


The Avengers Will Learn

by SummerRoses0612



Series: Avengers Watch [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: #Team Iron Man, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers Watch Iron Man 1, Avengers watch the Movie, But they get better, Civil War Team Iron Man, Clint Barton makes Dirty Jokes, DO NOT COPY, F/M, Iron Man 1, It diverged somewhere, M/M, My brain decided this was going to be Bruce/Tony, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha puts an end to that, Not Pepper friendly, Not Rhodey Friendly, Sorry Not Sorry, Sort Of, Timeline What Timeline, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, do not copy to another site, kind of, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 46,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerRoses0612/pseuds/SummerRoses0612
Summary: After the Attack of New York, someone leaves a DVD and a strange letter in Avenger's Tower. They activate a lockdown so nobody can leave the tower until the movie is watched. What will the reaction be to the whole truth of Tony's time in Afghanistan?
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Tony Stark, Bruce Banner/Tony Stark/Thor, blink and you miss it - Relationship
Series: Avengers Watch [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2153661
Comments: 37
Kudos: 368
Collections: Avengers regardent leur film, Characters Watch/Read Canon/Fanon





	1. Fun-Vee

_Hello Everyone! My name is Rose. How I came about wanting to write this type of story is simply the fact that I've seen so many similar and never really saw them done the way that I would do them. I figured, hey, I'll try my hand at writing stories, and if it doesn't work out... Well, no harm no foul. Anyways, Just a little disclaimer- I'm not saying that this is going to be a good story, I'm not saying that anything about this will make sense, I'm_ _certainly not saying the grammar will be good. Anyways...... On with the story. _

_I DON'T OWN THE AVENGERS OR IRON MAN... IF I DID THEN I WOULDN'T BE WRITING THIS STORY ON A MACBOOK IN MY ROOM._

* * *

The Fun-Vee

Tony Stark woke up last, taking a minute to remember what happened and why he had been asleep in the first place. Looking around he was in the common room of the Avengers Tower, somewhere he tried to avoid because it almost always meant talking to someone else. The two-way glass that the tower was made of looked like windows, the doors were all shut and, the furniture was all the same. The couches were in a U format, all facing the TV and the coffee table filled with movie snacks. Tony groaned when he tried to move, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Bruce, Steve, Thor, Natasha, Clint, Wanda, Rhodey, and Pepper were all sitting on the couches. Tony was laying on one side with Pepper, Fury, Rhodey and, Bruce while everyone else was on the opposite side of the room.

"You know if you guys wanted a movie night all you had to do was ask." Said a sarcastic Tony Stark, rubbing his hands on his face trying to get his bearings. Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce all gave slightly hysterical chuckles while the rest of the room just looked at him asking if he had gone insane. Bruce helped Tony up so that he was sitting in between him and Pepper with Rhodey on Pepper's other side while he said. 

"Nobody knows what happened, one minute we were all doing our own thing, and the next we were here. Take it easy, you were out the longest." He says in his typical calming voice.

"Hey J?" Tony says, tensing when Jarvis didn't immediately answer."J?" 

"Sorry, sir. I was locked out of the common room momentarily. I should warn you that the tower is on lockdown and none of the doors will open. Also, a box just appeared out of nowhere on the coffee table." Says the British voice from the ceiling. Everyone immediately looked to the table and found the box. Just as quickly Natasha picked up the box, glaring at Tony as if everything was his fault. 

" _Dear Avengers and Nick Fury,"_ the assassin read, _"I have been watching you very closely and have decided that you all need to know more about one of your teammates. You may hate him now but, who is anyone without an origin story? The tower will be on lockdown until you have all watched the contents of the DVD and then you are free to go. Do try to remember that everyone has a past and just because yours was hard doesn't mean everybody else had it easy. -From a fan"_ Then the Black Widow picked up the box. "Iron Man 1" She read off of the DVD cover.

"Come on Stark, I know that you're narcissistic but this is taking it too far!" says an irate Wanda, everyone on that side of the couch nodding in agreement except the stony faced Director. Tony's face switched from confusion and irritation to uncertainty then his arrogant mask took over. Everyone in the room had already seen though. 

"What can possibly be wrong about 2 hours of me?" He asked with a cheeky smile, standing up and taking the DVD from the assassin and putting it in the DVD player. "Jarvis, turn on movie protocol and press play." the billionaire said before anyone could stop him. What nobody knew was that he was freaking out. ' _They are going to learn about Afghanistan right now, aren't they?'_ he mused in his head. Already aware that he would have to be strong and he couldn't let their hateful comments get him down. 

"Tone it down Stark, let's just do as this thing says so that we can get out of here." Director Fury says, stopping any further commenting. 

**There was a desert terrain with 5** **humvees driving down a dirt road, ACDC playing loudly. Inside of one of the cars was a man drinking a glass of whiskey.**

"I'll bet you anything that's Stark, you know, with his alcohol problem," Says Wanda snidely, causing Tony to flinch and the rest of the people on that side of the couch to laugh.

"How did anyone even get this!" He says, rapidly paling and grabbing the cushion he was sitting on. 

"Holy shit, Tony... That's Afghanistan," says Rhodey, loving at the screen shocked. 

"I know." Says the playboy quietly, stopping the laughter on the other side with just the look on his face.

**It pans out and shows a very young-looking Tony Stark holding the glass alcohol with an expensive suit and sunglasses on. "I feel like you're driving me to a Court Marshal. This is crazy. What did I do?" Tony questions, trying to lighten the mood. "I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What? You're not allowed to talk?... Hey Forest?"**

"You should respect the soldiers, Stark," Steve says, quietly fuming at the blatant disrespect.

**"We can talk, sir," says the soldier sitting next to him.**

**"Oh, I see, so it's personal." says the billionaire, looking away out the window.**

Steve, Wanda, and Clint all scoff while Wanda says "Of course it's personal." 

Causing Tony to tighten his hold on the furniture trying hard to stop the sadness that comes with seeing the soldiers that died trying to save him. 

**"No, you intimidate them." says the woman driving.**

**"Good god, you're a woman... I honestly, I- I couldn't have called that, I mean I'd** **apologize but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first." Tony says, trying again to cut the awkward silence.**

Everyone looks like they're trying to hold back their amusement and Tony smiles into his lap, happy to be away from more sensitive topics. 

**"I'm an airman," she says in response.**

**"Well, you have, actually, excellent bone structure, there. I'm kind of having a hard time not looking at you now... Is that weird?" He says, finally succeeding in breaking the ice. "Come on! It's okay laugh! Hey!" the billionaire says as the soldier finally start laughing.**

"I do not understand why you have to allow the warriors to laugh," says Thor in his typical loud voice causing everyone watching the movie to laugh and the Director's lips to twitch. 

**"Sir, I have a question.." Says the soldier sitting in the passenger's seat.**

**"Yes, please."**

**"Is it true that you went twelve for twelve with last year's Maxim cover models?" says the soldier.**

Clint looks shocked and a little awed then gets smacked on the head by Natasha. 

**Tony takes off his sunglasses then answers, "That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins. Anything else?"** **Says the billionaire. Everyone in the humvee now smiling.**

Bruce, Rhodey and, Clint laugh while Pepper scoffs, annoyed, Nick chuckles quietly, and Clint gets another smack. 

**"You're kidding me with the hand up, right?" Tony says to the soldier sitting next to him.**

Getting a glare from Steve this time. "You just can't help yourself, can you?" He asks while everyone else gives a surprised laugh. 

"I was just trying to break the ice, everyone in there was uncomfortable and I wanted to make it better." says the billionaire. 

"It's always about you... Isn't it?" Wanda chimed in, getting nods from everyone else while the people sitting with Tony give disapproving stares. 

**"Is it cool if I take a picture with you?" the first soldier asks.**

Tony shuts his eyes and holds the arc reactor nervously, knowing what's coming next and hoping that they don't show everything in the movie. Everyone in the room takes notice and pays more attention to the screen. 

**"Yes, It's very cool," Tony says causing the soldier to smile then move closer, handing a camera to the soldier in the passenger seat.**

The real Tony says, "See, I can be nice!"..... "sometimes" he amends after seeing the incredulous stares from everyone. 

**"I don't want to see this on your MySpace page... Please, no gang signs." He says as the soldier holds up a peace sign. Causing the soldier to put it down. "No, throw it up, I'm kidding," Tony says a moment later, laughing it off. "Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace."**

"Why would Friend Tony be out of a job with peace?" says the Asgardian confused, his question seconded by the Cap. 

"Because Stark Industries used to be a weapons company," says Wanda sending a nasty look to Tony again. 

**The soldier with the camera has a bit of trouble so the soldier in the picture says.**

**"Come on. Hurry up. Just click it. Don't change any settings. Just click it."**

Real Tony takes a deep breath and holds it, flinching along with everyone else when the next part happens even knowing what is going to happen.

**Then, the humvee in front of theirs blows up.**

"Holy shit!" just about everyone in the room shouts, including Fury. Tony takes a deep breath then opens his eyes to watch the next part, never stopping the hand that was drumming on the arc reactor. 

**Screaming and general panic ensues. "What's goin' on?" Tony asks panicking.**

**"CONTACT LEFT!" the woman says over coms.**

**"What have we got?" Tony asks again, trying to figure out what's happening. There are bullets raining from every direction and the woman that was driving opens the door with her gun loaded only to be promptly shot. With a cry, she falls to the ground.**

**"Jimmy, stay with Stark!" the soldier from the passenger seat yells out before cocking his gun and then getting out as well.**

**"Stay down!" Jimmy says to Stark and he gets down onto the floor of the humvee.**

**"Yeah," Tony says in an even more panicked voice.**

**The solider that went outside gets a couple of shots off before he's shot right in front of Tony, causing the billionaire to flinch and move to a sitting position, holding his chest where he would have been shot if not for the windshield, also showing that he doesn't have the arc reactor yet. Then he hears Jimmy say "Son of a bitch!" as he too loads his gun. Jimmy then gets out of the car with Tony yelling after him.**

**"Wait, wait, wait! Give me a gun!" says the distraught playboy as Jimmy yells from outside the car.**

**"Stay here!" says Jimmy before getting shot. Nobody is left in the car but Stark and he has intense ringing in his ears. Looking around he sees more humvees getting blown up so he leaves the car.**

"STAY IN THE CAR! YOU SHOULD HAVE FOLLOWE-" starts the Cap, getting cut off when the Director puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Not now Cap," he says, pointing to Stark who looks dangerously close to either having a panic attack or sobbing. Still drumming on the arc reactor. 

**A bomb goes off dangerously close to Stark, causing him to duck and protect his face with his hands. Stark hurries through the gunshots and the missiles to take cover on the opposite side of a big rock, getting out his phone and rapidly texting someone while panting.**

**He hears a mechanic whine and looks to his right to see a** **missile. He reads the label _Stark Industries._ His eyes widen and then scrambles to getaway. "Woah!" he yells, groaning as the missile hits him in the chest, pushing him backward where he lands with another grunt. **

"Oh my god!" Yells Pepper and Bruce. While everyone else in the room besides Fury, Wanda, Thor, and the Cap put a hand to their mouths, thinking that the missile should have killed him. 

"Serves you right, getting a taste of your own medicine," says Wanda with her arms crossed.

"With your own weapon! That is dishonorable!" says Thor in a loud voice while everyone who read Tony's file is thinking. The Director turns to Tony and says bluntly.

"This wasn't in your file." 

"Yeah, well I hacked your database and removed most of the information they have on me," says Tony cheekily, though everyone knew that it was an act and that he was really shaken up.

**The ringing in Tony's ears gets louder, the dust settles and the playboy notices the red stain that's growing on his chest. He opens his shirt and sees the shrapnel stuck into the bulletproof vest he was wearing and all of the blood. He lays back and seems to accept his death then lays his head back. The screen goes white.**

"Oh my god, Tony! If I didn't know any better I would say that we just watched you die..." says Bruce, laughing nervously. 

Tony gulps and says calmly without even a little bit of sarcasm "Can we just finish this movie, I'm over it already." His tone shuts people up and the movie resumes. 

**The white screen turns into a gold thread pattern then the bag is pulled off Tony's head. He looks really disoriented, blood and scratches on his face and his hair is wet. There are people all around him holding guns up to his head and filming him, yelling in a foreign language. Tony just looks like** **he's in pain and has no idea what's happening then puts on his media mask when he sees the camera. The screen goes black and golden letters spelling Iron Man show up.**

**Las Vegas, 36 Hours Earlier**

"I guess we finally get to see what happened in Afghanistan," says Director Fury to the silent common room. Everyone reevaluating what they knew of Tony with the man they just saw in the film. 

"I guess so," says a significantly calmer Tony Stark. 

* * *

_Ok, this is my first try at writing something like this, just thought I'd say if you don't like it then don't fucking read it. I don't need to hear your complaining when everyone is just trying their best... Including me!... See you next time._


	2. Las Vegas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers reacting to Tony's trip to Las Vegas.

_I DON'T OWN TONY STARK OR THE AVENGERS OR IRON MAN. I LIKE TO THINK MY VERSION WOULD BE MUCH BETTER_

* * *

**"Tony Stark. Visionary. Genius. American Patriot."**

Steve scoffs while Tony looks away, determined not to let other's opinions disappoint him. His father was enough.

 **"Even from an early age the son of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. At age four he built his first circuit board. At age six, his first** **engine. And at 17, he graduated summa cum laude from MIT."**

Here everyone looks reluctantly impressed except for Clint who turns to Stark "Damn, I didn't know you had it in ya."

"Do I have to define what genius means?" Stark responds sarcastically glad that he had a while to get used to them knowing he was kidnapped. 

**"Then, the passing of a titan."**

Everyone looks at Tony expecting him to look sad but he doesn't look affected at all. If anything he looks a little mad. 

**"** **Howard Stark's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder, until, at age 21 the prodigal son returns and is anointed the new CEO of Stark Industries."**

The assassin twins and the Director all notice that Stark tenses and his fists tighten when Obadiah is mentioned. 

**"With the keys to the kingdom, Tony ushers in a new era for his father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advances robotics, satellite targeting. Today, Tony Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe."**

**After the slideshow is finished you see a fancy dining room and an army man standing behind the podium. "As liaison to Stark Industries, I have had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot."**

"I bet you $20 he doesn't show," Clint says to the room who gets smacked by Natasha again. 

**"He is my friend and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Mr.Tony Stark." The announcer states. Everyone applauds and the music changes to an old-time congratulation song. "Tony?" says the announcer again, embarrassed and finally realizing that Tony isn't coming. The Colonel makes eye contact with Obadiah who shakes his head then gets up.**

**"Thank you, Colonel," Obadiah says to Rhodey when he gets up to the podium looking at the award.**

**"Thanks for the save," Rhodey says back embarrassed.**

"You aren't still mad about that, are you Platypus?" says Tony, pouting at the prospect.

"As I said, I'm indifferent." Rhodey replies which makes Tony lean over Pepper hug him.

"Thanks, Honeybear." He says happily while fighting to keep his hold of the army man. 

"Stop it!" the Colonel shouts trying to get rid of the leach known as Tony "Tony!" 

"Fine, you ruin all my fun," Tony says, pouting with his arms crossed over his chest like a petulant child to the amusement of the room who is all laughing. Tony gets a cheeky glint in his eye then leans over and kisses Rhodey on the cheek, pressing play before anyone can say anything but he sees James wipe it off.

**"This is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is wonderful. Well, I'm not Tony Stark. But, if I were Tony I would tell you how honored I feel and what a joy it is to receive this very prestigious award. Tony, you know. The best thing about Tony is also the worst thing. He's always working."**

"Obadiah is so right, you're always work-" Pepper starts, then the scene changes. 

**The movie cuts to a scene of Tony gambling with Happy and girls hanging off of his arms. With upbeat jazz music.**

**"Work it! Come on!" says Tony to the clapping crowd around him after he rolls. "We should just stay until morning," he says to the girl who he has by the hips, she is seductively touching his chest.**

"Nevermind... You're unbelievable." Pepper corrects herself. 

**"You are unbelievable." Says Rhodey from behind the couple, making Tony groan.**

"Twining!" Clint says from the other couch. Most of the death glares having stopped. 

**"Oh no! Did they rope you into this?"**

**"Nobody roped me into anything!" Rhodey replies over Tony repeating himself. "They roped you into this?"**

**"I'm so sorry," Tony says, not sound all that** **sympathetic.**

**"They told me, that if I presented you with an award you'd be deeply honored," Rhodey says, getting in between the couple.**

**"Of course I'd be deeply honored. And It's you, that's great."**

Pepper takes in the look on Tony's face and realizes something, causing her to groan. "If they had told you that it was Rhodey you would have gone, wouldn't you?" she says in response to the unasked question. Getting everyone on the opposite side of the room to scoff. 

"Of course I would have! I thought it was going to be another stuffed up member of the military that hasn't had sex since the 70s. If I had known I would have gone." The common room is filled with laughter and Rhodey gets this well, shit look on his face. Everyone realizes he is telling the truth and they stop laughing. "Let's just... Get back to the movie..." says the vulnerable billionaire looking extremely uncomfortable and out of his comfort zone.

**"So when do we do it?" Tony asks, looking around.**

**"It's right here," says Rhodey handing him the award. "Here you go," he says while Tony talks over him looking at the card guy "Umm, just give me one more round."**

**"There it is. That was easy." Says the gambling** **billionaire looking at the award. "I'm so sorry" he repeats, looking more sincere.**

**"It's okay." The Colonel repeats.**

"I really am sorry platypus-" Tony starts only to be cut off by Rhodey.

"I forgave you for everything the moment you managed to get out of that cave."

"Aww, how sweet, you were stuck in a cave?" says Wanda, who then stops noticing how everyone who knew about Afghanistan winced. 

**"Wow, would you look at that? That is something else." Tony starts then continues sarcastically and going back to gambling "I don't have any of those floating around."**

"I'd like to point out that I had gotten 8 of those in the past." Says the sarcastic billionaire. 

"8!" Exclaimed Bruce, beyond shock and a little bit awed by what his friend had achieved. 

"8" confirmed the former playboy.

Everyone looks reluctantly impressed by the declaration. 

**He gives it to the girl that was hanging off of him gathering his chips. "Uh, We're gonna let it ride!.. Give me a hand, will you? Give me a little something-something." He says to the girl, putting his dice in front of the girl's mouth where she seductively blows on them.**

Steve scoffs again, obviously wanting to make a comment but a look from Fury has him shutting his mouth and everyone against Tony shifting awkwardly.

**"Okay, you too" Tony jokes, bringing his hand up to Rhodey's mouth.**

**"I don't blow on a man's dice," Rhodey says looking at Tony and not at the dice.**

**"Come on, honey bear." Tony tries, wanting Rhodey to blow on the dice.**

**"I don't blow on a man's dice" Rhodey repeats, knocking Tony's hand out of his face and rolling the dice in the process.**

**"There it is! Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes rolls! And...." The dice stop and land on snake eyes and Tony looks slightly disappointed after his declaration.**

**"Two craps. Line away." The dealer calls dutifully. Making Rhodey shrug and Tony get that why-do-I-even-talk-to-you face on.**

Clint winces slightly in sympathy and Rhodey winces in remembrance. 

**"That's what happens." The Colonel says, mocking Tony.**

**"Worst things have happened... I think we're gonna be fine." Tony repeats with the air of someone who has said that a lot. "Color me up, will you?" Tony says to someone off to his left. The scene changes to Tony, Happy and, some guards walking out of the hotel lobby, Rhodey standing next to Tony.**

**"This is where I exit." He says, shaking the billionaire's hand.**

**"All right," Tony says, not really paying attention.**

**"Tomorrow, don't be late." Rhodes says getting the reply of "Yeah, you can count on it."**

**"I'm serious!" The army man says. To which Tony replies "I know, I know." dismissing Rhodey as they walk out of the hotel.**

"He was late, wasn't he," says Wanda and Natasha at the same time where everyone else in the room, Fury included, just chuckles- knowing that the billionaire was probably late. 

**"Render unto** **Caesar, that which is Caesar's. There you go." Tony says to the man dressing up to look like Caesar in the lobby, giving him the award he just won before leaving.**

"You just gave it away! After all that!" Says Rhodey, getting everyone to laugh, Tony harder than the others just by seeing the look on his face. 

**The guards, Happy, and Tony finally make it to the car, when they are stopped by a reporter.**

**"Mr. Stark! Excuse me, Mr. Stark!" The blonde says, stopping Tony from getting into the car. "Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine." The blonde continues, "Can I ask you a couple of questions?" Happy turns around to look at the reporter then looks back at Tony**

**"She's cute." He says as if trying to convince Tony to talk to the reporter.**

**"She's all right?" He gets in reply, Tony basically asking if Happy thinks that it's worth it.**

"You ask your bodyguard if the reporters are cute before you talk to them?" Asks Steve, absolutely scandalized. "That's disgusting!" while Wanda starts to play with her power in her hands and Natasha suddenly has a really sharp knife. 

"Hey! I'm not like that anymore." Says Stark, looking defiant, knowing that he can beat them with both hands tied behind his back. 

**"Hi." Tony says as he turns around getting a "Hi" In response. "Yeah, okay. Go." The billionaire says, resigning himself to the interview.**

**"It's okay?" The reporter asks, even though she is clearly getting ready to start questioning him, getting out her recording device. "Yeah." She gets as confirmation.**

**"You've been called the Da Vinci of our time. What do you say to that?" She starts.**

**"Absolutely ridiculous. I don't paint." Tony says with a deadpan voice, shaking his head.**

"My God, she's just trying to do her job!" says Steve his conservative status making itself known again.

"Well I'm sorry, we can't all be self-righteous and perfect, Capsicle." says the billionaire, leaving no doubt that he doesn't care what the Captain thinks and stopping anyone else saying something on the topic. 

**"And what do you say to your other nickname? 'The Merchant of Death'?" The reporter asked relentlessly, causing Tony to tense a little bit.**

**"That's not bad," Tony says, clearly trying to hide the fact that he is uncomfortable.**

"My god, Stark. Where is your shame?!" Asks a very angry Wanda, thinking of what Stark's weapons did to her.

"I'm thinking that she was relentless, and I just wanted to go home." Says Tony, not even letting what Wanda said outwardly affect him when really, it hurt that she still thought of him that way after everything. 

**"Let me guess, Berkley?" The billionaire deflects, trying to get the conversation off of him.**

**"Brown, actually." The reporter says, seeming a bit annoyed.**

**"Well, Ms. Brown, It's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals." He says quickly obviously just wanting to end the interrogation.**

**"Rehearse that much?" comes the snide reply.**

**"Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime." He says sarcastically.**

"My god, you're really going for it there Stark." Says Fury, lips twitching in obvious enjoyment of the reporter's discomfort at the lack of reaction. 

**"I can see that." She replies with a small mocking smile obviously unhappy with the lack of reaction.**

**"I'd like to show you first-hand," Tony says after a pause, finally taking back control and now flirting with the woman.**

**"All I want is a serious answer." The reporter says, still digging.**

**"Okay, here's serious. My old man had a philosophy," Tony starts, talking faster as the interview goes on. "'Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.'" he says trying to just finish the interview finally.**

"What?" Steve croaked, trying to wrap his head around how his friend could have changed so much.

"Howard changed, Steve," says Fury obviously trying to get away from that conversation when Tony tensed again. 

**"That's a great line, coming from the guy selling the sticks." The persistent reporter continues.**

**"My father helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people including your professors at Brown would call that being a hero."**

Everyone in the room except for Tony gasped.

"I haven't been here for long but even I know what the Manhattan project was!... Oh, Howard... What have you done?" Says Steve to himself even though everyone heard him.

"Friend Tony, what is the Manhattan Project?" Says Thor as loud as usual.

"My dad helped create the atomic bomb." Says Tony quietly silencing everyone when they hear the shame in his voice at what his father did. 

**"And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering." Says the relentless blonde, finally getting on Tony's last nerve.**

Tony, Bruce, Rhodey, Clint and, Natasha winced before they could stop themselves, all cursing the overzealous reporter on the screen. 

**"Tell me," He starts, taking off his glasses in a sign of annoyance, "do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey," he says with a frank look on his face.**

**"Wow, You ever lose an hour of sleep your whole life?" Christine says, still digging.**

**"I'd be prepared to lose a few with you." He says seductively, trying again to get the conversation away from himself.**

"I'd close your eyes Cap, I'll explain when you're older." The former playboy says with a seductive wink, causing Steve the blush and everyone else to groan. 

**The scene cuts to them aggressively making out on Tony's bed. Christine on top with only her underwear and shirt left. Then Tony rolls them over and onto the floor, laughing loudly.**

"You fell on the floor!?" Says Clint over the laughter in the room. While Tony is grinning like an idiot. Even Pepper laughed a little bit. 

"Man or Iron! What about Lady Pepper?" Says Thor, his Asgardian accent coming through a bit more in his distress.

"This was before Pepper, Point Break," Tony says calmly, still laughing over the previous scene.

**The scene again cuts to Christine in the bed with the sheet barely covering her, the room is dark and she's asleep. The light turns on and she starts awake as Jarvis starts to talk to her. "Good morning. It's 7:00 a.m. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds," Jarvis starts, as the windows turn clear and a beautiful beach with a clear sky comes into focus. "The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 a.m." Jarvis finished, the camera panning out to show an amazing house on the hill with an awesome view of the beach. The reporter is looking out the window with just the sheet to cover herself and looking in awe at the view. The house is white and a very ascetically pleasing shape.**

"Holy shit! Why don't we live there?" Asks Clint in awe of the house while everyone who doesn't know the history nods in agreement.

" 'Cause a terrorist blew it up." Says Tony calmly, inwardly laughing at the looks of shock on the rest of the team's faces. 

**"Tony?" the reporter calls, she is in the living room now and only wearing her underwear and Tony's shirt from the night before. "Hey, Tony?" She calls again looking around the house. She tries to touch the pad on the wall and when she does, Jarvis** **intervenes. There is a beeping noise and then Jarvis says.**

"You left her alone?" Says Steve managing to look a mix of amused and disgusted that made Tony laugh as the movie just kept playing. 

**"You are not authorized to access this area." successfully scaring the crap out of Christine and making her curse.**

**"Jesus!" She says as she jumps away from the wall.**

**"That's Jarvis," Pepper starts, scaring Christine again, "He runs the house." Pepper finishes looking really proud of herself.** ****

" _Hear that, sir. I run the house._ " Says Jarvis snidely making half the people in the room flinch and the others laugh. 

"I wasn't kidding about the community college thing, Jarv." Says Tony when he finishes laughing, trying to look stern but everyone saw the fond exasperation.

"Everyone quiet," Fury said in a voice that demanded respect.

"Pepper!" Says most of the Avengers, looking excited to see her while Pepper just blushed because she remembered the conversation. Tony looks intently at the screen and so does everyone else because they know that Pepper is about to do something amazing by the blush she's wearing. 

**"I've got your clothes here. They've been dry-cleaned and pressed, and there's a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you'd like to go." Says Pepper while Christine turns around to face her with her hands together in front of her stomach.**

**"You must be the famous Pepper Potts." The reporter starts, pointing to Pepper as she gets even closer.**

**"Indeed I am." The red-head says.**

**"After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry-cleaning." Says the blonde snidely, trying to get a rise out of Pepper as she takes her clothes from Pepper.**

"No! I have my bots do that." Tony says, nodding resolutely to himself making Pepper laugh and everyone else smiles reluctantly at his proud childish behavior. 

**"I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally taking out the trash. Will that be all?" Pepper says smiling snidely.**

Everyone in the room bursts out laughing at the look on the reporter's face, while Tony looks at Pepper and says "That's my girl". Causing all of the laughter to stop and the awing begin. Wanda and the others on her side of the room still look slightly murderous but not as much as before. 

"Movie" Tony starts laughing awkwardly "Lets... just finish the movie." 

**The scene cuts to Tony down in his lab working on a car with really loud music.**

**"Give me an exploded view," Tony says, the computer in front of him doing as he asks.**

**"The compression in cylinder three appears to be low," Jarvis says dutifully over the loud music. To which Tony replies "Log that," then goes back to work. Behind Tony Pepper comes down the stairs on the phone. When she puts in the password and opens the door the music turns off.**

**"I'm gonna try again, right now... I'll keep you posted." She says into the phone then hangs up.**

**"Please don't turn down my music," Tony says not even looking at Pepper and continuing to work on the car.**

"I apologize for how this conversation went," says Tony to Pepper before the scene actually starts. 

**"You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now." She says, looking at the folder in her hands.**

**"How'd she take it?" Asks the playboy, referring to the one-night-stand that Pepper had just kicked out.**

**"Like a champ." She says, looking annoyed at being interrupted.**

**"Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?" Tony asks still not looking up from his work on the car.**

"I'll bet you anything it was her birthday." Says Clint causing the rest of the room to laugh and Tony to pout even knowing that it's true. 

**"Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago." Says Pepper still looking annoyed at not being given his undivided attention.**

**"That's funny. I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there."**

**"Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple of things before I get you out of the door." Pepper try again, starting to look mad.**

"I never realized quite how close I got to pissing you off that day." Tony says in interest before seeing the incredulous stare from Pepper and amending himself to "And I sincerely apologize for what I put you through." Everyone laughed again then the movie kept playing.

**"Doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?" Tony says ignoring what Pepper had just said and finally turning around to look at her.**

**"Larry called. He's got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings. Do you want it? Yes or no." Says Pepper using Tony's technique of ignoring what he just said and getting on with business.**

**"Is it a good representation of his spring period?" Asks Tony, looking down at his hands.**

**"Um. No. The Springs was actually the neighborhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked. Not "spring" like the season."**

**"So?" Tony asks looking up again.**

**"I think it's a fair example. Um... I think it's** **incredibly overpriced." Pepper says nodding her head resolutely.**

**"I need it. Buy it. Store it." Tony says with a straight face. Pepper just smiles fondly at the billionaire like this happens a lot. (Which it probably does)**

The Avengers and even Fury all laugh at Tony's decision-making process.

 **"Okay." Pepper starts, writing something down on the folder. "The MIT commencement** **speech..."**

 **"Is in June," Tony says walking to the other side of the workshop.** **"Please, don't harangue me about stuff that's way, way down...."**

**"Well. They're haranguing me, so I'm gonna say yes." Pepper comments, writing it down and walking with Tony.**

**"Deflect it and absorb it. Don't transmit it back to me." Tony says distractedly.**

Clint and Natasha snort, "The coding rule?" Clint repeats it to himself quietly enough that it can't be overheard over the laughter in the room. Even Thor got the joke once Clint said that.

**"I need you to sign this before you get on the plane," Pepper says again ignoring the man-child she works for.**

**"What are you trying to get rid of me for?" Tony asks again. "Do you have plans?" He guesses.**

**"As a matter of fact, I do." She says with a smile on her face.**

**"I don't like it when you have plans." Says Tony more quietly than usual.**

"She's not allowed to have plans on her birthday?" Says a pissed off Wanda.

"Woah! Cool it witchy, I've changed and I didn't actually forget." Says Tony with a pathetic look on his face causing Fury to snort.

"Sure you didn't," He says disbelievingly. Tony just crosses his arms as the movie starts to play again to the amusement of everyone. Bruce had a hand on his mouth as if trying to keep the amusement inside.

**"I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday," Pepper says with an annoyed face again.**

Everyone laughs again at Pepper's misfortune.

**"It's your birthday?"**

**"Yes.** **"**

**"I knew that... Already?"**

**"Yeah. Isn't that strange? It's the same day as last year." Pepper says, smiling now.**

**"Well, get yourself something nice from me."**

**"I already did" Pepper replies with a satisfied look on her face.**

**"And?"**

**"Oh, yeah. It was very nice."**

**"Yeah?"**

Even Steve chuckled at the way the conversation was going. 

**"Very** **tasteful. Thank you, Mr. Stark."**

**"You're welcome, Ms. Potts," Tony replies softly, taking the coffee cup that Pepper handed him and drinking it. "Okay," he says, handing back the cup. The rock music starts again and the scene cuts to him driving down a canon in a fast car with another car following. They are racing and Tony makes it to the parking lot first. The airplane is right in front of them and Rhodey is standing on the stairs when Stark gets out of the car in sunglasses and a leather jacket.**

**"You're good oh, I thought I lost you back there," Tony says to Happy, as they were racing.**

**"You did, sir. I had to cut across** **Mulholland." The bodyguard replies as he gets the suitcases out of the back of his car.**

**"Ah! I got you. I got you."**

**"What's wrong with you?" Rhodey asks from his place on the plane stairs.**

**"What?" Tony replies, oblivious to the Colonel's annoyance.**

**"Three hours."**

**"I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair," Tony says quickly, lying.**

Everyone in the room laughs and Rhodey just shakes his head.

"I knew that you were lying to me too, I just wasn't sure what you were doing instead." He says laughing with the rest of them now.

**"For three hours. For three hours you got me standing here." Rhodey says annoyed.**

**"Waiting on** **you now. Let's go. Come on." Tony says as he goes up the stairs and gets into the plane with Happy following him.**

**"Wheels up! Rock and roll!" Tony shouts from inside the plane while Rhodey just shakes his head and gets into the plane too. The scene cuts to the plane in the air and heavy rock music. Tony and Rhodey are in seats facing each other while a blonde air attendant sets the table.**

**"What are you eating, platypus?" Tony asks bored and looking for attention.** ****

"My God, you really can't go 20 minutes without attention?" asks Wanda to the amusement of Steve, Natasha, and Clint who were all on the opposite side of the sofa.

**"Nothing," Rhodey replies trying to read in peace.**

**"Come on, sour patch. Don't be mad."**

**"I told you, I'm not mad. I'm indifferent, okay?" Rhodey says looking up from his reading to see Tony.**

**"I said I was sorry." He says then a different, dark-haired, air attendant came up to them.**

**"Good morning, Mr. Stark," she says.**

**"You don't need to apologize," Rhodey says again.**

**"Hi. I told him I was sorry but he.." Tony says to the woman because Rhodey wasn't listening.**

**"I'm just indifferent right now," Rhodey repeats even though the billionaire's focus is on the woman.**

**"Hot towel?" She asks and Tony takes it.**

**"You don't respect yourself," Rhodey starts.**

The real Tony flinches a little bit and only Bruce and Pepper know because they can feel it. Bruce bumps their shoulders together in comfort and Pepper holds his hand.

**"So I know you don't respect me." Rhodey finishes, also taking a towel.**

**"I respect you." Stark interrupts, looking perfectly calm but hiding well that it hurt him.**

**"I'm just your babysitter... And so, when you need your diaper changed.." He says to Tony then says thank you to the woman with the towels. "Let me know and I'll get you a bottle, okay?" He finishes**

"Ouch," Fury says quietly stopping everyone on Wanda's side of the couch from making a comment when he saw how tense Tony was. 

**"Hey! Heat up the sake, will you?.. Thanks for reminding me." He says somewhat** **sarcastically.**

**"No, I'm not talking...We're not drinking right now... We're working."**

**"You can't have sashimi without sake," Tony replies, ignoring Rhodey again.** ****

"You are constitutionally incapable of being responsible." Rhodey continues. ****

This gains a flinch from both of them in real life and they both look at each other over Pepper.

**"It would be irresponsible not to drink. I'm just talking about a nightcap." Tony continues. When another flight attendant comes back.**

**"Hot sake?" She asks Tony.**

**"Yes, two, please."**

**"No," Rhodey says but he's not really trying very hard anymore. "I'm not** **drinking. I don't want any." He says again. The scene switches to Rhodey draped over Tony's shoulder. There is party music going on and a music video playing behind them. They both have a glass of alcohol but it's clear that Rhodey is much worst off than Tony is.**

**"That's what I'm talking about... When I get up in the morning and I'm putting on my uniform, you know what I recognize?" A very drunk Rhodey asks over the loud music.**

"Not drinking, huh?" The billionaire taunts Rhodey who is hiding his face in his hands.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" He cries out in frustration.

"I had twice as much as you did!" Tony says, still taunting the Colonel.

"Friend Tony, I have never seen a mortal that can hold their alcohol better than you can!" Thor congratulates, patting Tony on the back hard enough that he almost falls off the couch. 

"Thanks, big guy!" Tony says winking at Thor.

**"What?" Asks a significantly more coherent Tony.**

**"I see in that mirror that every person that's got this uniform on got my back!" The camera backs up and you can see the air attendants dancing with their shirts pulled up.**

**"Hey, you know what? I'm not like you. I'm not cut out..." Tony starts only to be cut off by the intoxicated Colonel.**

**"No, no. You don't have to be like me!.. But you're more than what you are." Rhodey yells. Then a stripper pole comes out of the floor and the ladies move to dance on that.**

**"Can you excuse me if I'm a bit distracted here?" Tony asks gesturing to the half-naked women dancing on the pole.**

**"No! You can't be distracted right now! Listen to me!"**

"You can't even listen to your friend when he's drunk off his ass and wants attention like you do all the time," Wanda says rudely causing several snorts to go up around the room. The one-eyed look of disapproval stops that as quickly as it started. 

**The scene cuts to outside the plane and then it cuts again to the plane landed in an army base in Afghanistan. There are lots of army people and another plane and a couple of jeeps around. Then Tony comes down the stairs of his plane.**

**"General," He says politely shaking hands with one of the older army men.**

**"Welcome, Mr. Stark. We look forward to your weapons presentation." Says the General**

Tony winces and held Pepper's hand tighter moving closer to Bruce semiconsciously.

**"Thanks," Tony says shaking hands with another man as a jeep passes by. The scene cut to Tony standing in front of a desert with mountains pretty far back.**

**"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line." Tony starts, the army men all listening respectfully.**

"Weapons for freedom?" Wanda scoffs getting comforted by Natasha. Tony flinches again and leans against Bruce holding Pepper's hand still.

**"It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary** **repulser technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how Dad did it."**

"Howard made weapons?" Steve asked confused.

"Of course he did... You really think that I got up one day and decided to start making bombs? I stopped that after I got back from Afghanistan." Stark said in a rare show of patience.

"We really are going to see what happened to you there, aren't we," Fury asked the question everyone wanted to know.

"I really think we are." Said Tony much more calmly than he was feeling.

**"That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse," Tony continues, the camera panning out to show the bomb he was about to demonstrate. "to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves."**

Tony flinches hard at the wording, feeling like an idiot for using those exact words.

**The billionaire waves a hand towards the bomb and everyone watches as it takes aim then fires. It goes very fast and far then, before even starting to come down separates into thousands of smaller bombs. There is the mechanical whine as they start to explode.**

**"For your consideration, the Jericho." Says Tony, holding his hands up as the explosion goes off. Blowing up the mountains, blowing the hats off the army men, making Tony take a couple of steps forwards with the power of it. Dust comes up and hides all the army men for a couple of seconds before it starts to clear.**

Fury whistles while Wanda flinches. "Wow... Am glad to have you on our side Stark." The Pirate says.

"I don't make weapons anymore, _Nicky._ I destroyed all of the Jerichos too." Says Tony in a loud voice making sure that everyone heard to get the point across.

 **The scene changes to the** **billionaire opening a super-advanced cooler and getting the glass of whiskey that he had from the beginning of the movie.**

 **"I'll be throwing one of these with every purchase of 500 million or more." Tony starts, pointing to the ice chest and the saluting. "To peace!" he says then he drinks. Tony gets out his phone and answers it.** ****

**" _Tony,_ " says Obadiah from over the phone. The screen is him without a shirt on in bed.**

"I could have gone my whole life without seeing that..." Rhodey says squinting in disgust causing Tony to burst out laughing and Pepper to scoff. After he got control of himself again the movie started. 

**"Obie, what are you doing up?" Tony replies, taking a sip of his drink.**

_**"I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went. How'd it** _ **go?" Obadiah asked.** ****

**"It went great. Looks like it's going to be an early Christmas."**

_**"Hey! Way to go, my boy! I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"** _

"Son of a bitch!" Tony says with his fists clenched obviously realizing something that only he, Pepper, and Rhodey understood. 

"Oh, Tones... I'm so sorry," says Rhodey, grabbing one of Tony's clenched fists while Pepper just put a hand up to her mouth.

"What?" says Wanda, obviously annoyed at being left out.

"I'll answer questions at the end just... Please let us just finish this." Tony begged Wanda, stopping any protest. A Stark never begs.

**"Why aren't you wearing those pajamas I got you?" Tony asks Obadiah on the phone.**

**" _Good night Tony."_ Tony shuts off the phone and puts it in his pocket. Getting into the humvee from the ** **beginning of the movie.**

Tony grabs onto Bruce's arm and Pepper's hand obviously needing support and hoping that the movie doesn't show the surgery. He hadn't ever told anyone what really happened. 

**A soldier shuts the door after the billionaire gets in then leaves. Rhodey then walks up the door.**

**"Hey, Tony."**

**"I'm sorry, this is the '** **fun-vee' The 'hum-drum-vee' is back there," Tony says, sticking his head out of the window while the sole that held the door open got into the passenger seat.**

**"Nice job" Rhodey congratulates his friend.**

**"See you back at the base," Tony says then puts his head back into the car.**

"I wish" Tony muttered but everyone heard it. They looked at him and noticed his tight grip on his friends and then watched the screen, knowing that something big was going to happen. 

* * *

_Next up is going to be his time is Afghanistan..... If you want me to try something different comment and if you absolutely hate it I absolutely don't care... Just stop reading... I don't need your hate.. Thanks_


	3. Welcome to Afghanistan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's time in Afghanistan...

_I DON'T OWN MARVEL, THE AVENGERS, TONY STARK, IRON MAN... I really don't own anything so... Yeah... Enjoy this chapter._

* * *

**The scene changes to the humvees driving along the dirt road with ACDC in the background. Then one of the cars explodes. The scene changes again to one of Tony. He is bloody with bandages wrapped around his chest with nothing except his pants and a jacket on. There is a flash of people and cheap medical supplies. A flash of Tony's bare, bloody, chest. Someone looks to be trying to get rid of some of the blood. There is a flash of a doctor standing over the billionaire, of people holding Tony down as he screams. Long, agonized screams that don't even sound human anymore. The doctor again, more screaming, a huge hole carved out of his chest. Someone putting their hand in it and the distinct sound of something sawing along with another pain-filled scream. Tony thrashing his head from side to side as someone different holds him down. Someone with gloves on putting something into his chest. Tony sobbing in pain, not even able to scream anymore, then, as the operation finishes, the same bloody gloved hands brutally shoving gauze to Tony's nose and mouth to knock him out. Then quiet, as Tony breathes deeply and a bloody blanket being put over his chest. Then the screen goes black.**

Tony's break hitches a couple of times before he gets himself back under control. He is abnormally pale and holding onto Bruce and Pepper as if they are his lifelines. Bruce is starting to look a little green.

"THEY GAVE YOU THE ARC REACTOR IN A CAVE!.. WHILE YOU WERE AWAKE!... WITH THOSE SUPPLIES!..." Bruce's normally calm demeanor fading as he grabs Tony and hugs him while he tries to calm down.

"Hey. Brucie, I'm okay, it's okay... You know terrorists, they enjoy the pain of others. I was in a cave in the middle of nowhere they didn't even have painkillers." Tony rambles, then shut his mouth and just holds onto Bruce, realizing that he isn't helping. 

"That... was never in your file..No painkillers? God, Stark.." Fury says looking at him, his eye showing concern. While the rest of the room is looking at the black screen of the TV in shock.

"I hacked SHIELD and deleted most of the stuff in my file but, no, I never told anybody about that besides Jarvis." Says Tony once Bruce lets him go, still looking a bit green. 

"My God, you told me that they gave you drugs! You made it sound like they gave them to you before! Not after!." Bruce says once the green is nothing more than a tint.

"I let you believe that because I couldn't handle other people knowing just then. I'm fine now, I downloaded a bunch of physiology books into Jarvis and he's helped me through everything. I'm okay now." He says, actually seeming okay instead of just trying to assure them. "After the Battle of New York when I spent a lot of time in my lab I was taking everything that I had seen through with Jarvis. I promise that I'm okay now." He reassures everyone and just grabs Bruce and Pepper's hands. "I think that we should just keep going so that we can leave the tower." And then the movie starts again.

**When the screen changes again Tony is laying on a tiny, dirty, cot. He is wearing dirty pants with nothing else except bandages and an unzipped jacket. He has a medical tube up his nose and he is still unconscious. There is a distant scream and then the billionaire's body suddenly flinches. He opens his eyes, looking disoriented then panicked his first clenched by his head as he breathed heavily. He coughs and scrunches up his nose obviously noticing the tube.**

"Please, don't..." Natasha mutters, looking distinctly sick.

"Sorry, Spidey," Tony says with a cheeky grin that wasn't even fake.

"You don't know where you are," Bruce says quietly, knocking the smile off of Tony's face and causing his breath to hitch at the sad look in Bruce's eyes.

**The billionaire grabbed the tube and pulled it out, groaning at the sensation and trying not to gag. Then violently ripping the tape off his nose he gets the entire thing out, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his jacket. Blinking violently, he looks over to his left and notices a cup of water. The playboy flexes his hand then tries to grab it, only succeeding in knocking it off the table. He starts to cough again and his breath comes out in clouds it's so cold. He starts to turn over and lay on his side when he sees a bald man shaving in a mirror, humming something.**

"I'll be you $10 that that is a soldier sent to get Stark's trust," Natasha says and Clint takes the bet.

"Give Clint the money and don't talk about him like that. He is one of the best men that I have ever known and I will be forever in debt to him." Tony says quietly and Natasha just hands the money over.

**Tony makes a grab for the water bottle when something on his chest pulls, stopping him from moving anymore.**

**"I wouldn't do that anymore if I were you." Says the humming man, continuing his shaving.**

**Tony turns back onto his back and looks over to his left to see a car battery.**

"That... That's not the arc reactor.." Says Bruce haltingly... "Please tell me that they didn't..." Bruce continues...

"They did.." Tony says back in a voice just as quiet even though the whole room heard them.

 **Tony grabbed the cord at the top of the car battery and followed it down with trembling fingers groaning when pulling on the cords hurt. He patted his chest a couple of times, moaning in pain again but feeling something hard. With horror on his face and shaking hands, he starts to rip the bandages away, grunting and moaning at the pain of moving but doing it anyway. Finally getting them off and** **hyperventilating at what he found. There was a piece of rusty old metal connected to the car battery held together with 6 huge, rusted screws. He recoils sharply, the jolt of moving so quickly causing him to muffle a scream. The scene cuts again.**

"The rust on that thing alone could have killed you! They cut you open while you were awake for...FOR A FUCKING CAR BATTERY!" Bruce shouts, getting more green. Tony quickly gets up and crouches in front of Bruce, grabbing his arms.

"Hey! Brucie! There isn't any more rust! I'm okay I fixed it!" Stark started but seeing that it wasn't working, he tapped his reactor a couple of times hoping it would be enough. It wasn't so he said "Alright, Alright, look!" and took off his shirt. Bruce stopped turning green and just looked at the arc reactor putting a hand on it and another on Tony's hip and calming down his breathing. "I'm alright, buddy, see? No rust." Tony said again ignoring the rest of the room. Ignoring the horrified stares from the people looking at all the scars on his back and Pepper, Rhodey, Thor, and Fury looking in awe at the arc reactor. 

"You're okay now though, right?" Bruce finally asked after taking a couple of minutes to came down, not looking green anymore.

"Yeah, I'm okay now" But, as Bruce started to take the hand on Tony's hip away his hand slid against raised skin. His brow furrowed and he looked back up at Tony's face, momentarily seeing the panic before seeing his face change to one of resigned acceptance. "Turn around," Bruce said in a completely calm voice when his eyes said he was everything but calm. 

"That's... That's alright, I think I'll just put my shirt on and we can finish the movie." Tony tries once to get out of showing Bruce his back.

"Now, Tony.." Maybe it was his voice that spoke of a demand or the look in his eyes but Tony just did as he was asked, letting Bruce's hand on his hip guide him into turning and hearing the gasps from everyone around the room as they either saw the reactor or his back. He shut his eyes. 

"Where?... How?... Tony!" Asks Bruce running his hand along his back keeping his other on Tony's hip making Tony shudder. 

"I got some of them in Afghanistan. If the movie doesn't show it then I'll tell you after I get rescued." Says Tony never opening his eyes, not wanting to see the looks he was getting because of his scars. 

"Friend Tony, scars are the sign of an honorable warrior!" Thor says in a proud voice, not seeing the stares he was getting from the others.

"Thanks, Point Break," Tony says with a weak smile still not opening his eyes. 

"Let's watch this then," Bruce says pulling Tony back onto the couch and not letting him put his shirt back on until he had looked at Tony's front again. Then they let the movie play.

**The man that was whistling was now cooking beans over the fire and humming. Tony was sitting up on the cot with the broken mirror and looking at his chest.**

**"What the hell did you do to me?" Tony asked his voice rough and painful sounding from all the screaming.**

Everyone in the room flinched at the sound. Then twitching again when they hear Tony mutter, "I didn't realize I sounded so bad.".

**"What did I do?" Says the bald man chuckling "What I did is to save your life... I removed all the shrapnel I could but there's a lot left," The man starts as Tony moves the mirror to look at his chest again. "and it's headed into your atrial septum."**

Everyone looked at Bruce who was staring at Tony shocked "His heart, there is shrapnel that is trying to get into your heart." He says the first part to the team then the rest to Tony.

"Yes, I got another operation done but they couldn't safely remove all of it. There is still some left in my body and that is what the arc reactor is for." He says to the quiet room, watching the screen with sad eyes as it keeps playing.

 **"Here, want to see?" The man asked picking up a small jar with the removed shrapnel in it and throwing it to Tony. "I have a souvenir. Take a look." He says as Tony holds it up to the light in a display of obvious morbid** **fascination. "I've seen many wounds like that in my village. we call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."** ****

"I'm going to be sick," says Natasha, looking pale at finally realizing what her teammate went through, getting an agreeing nod from Wanda, Steve, and Clint.

**"What is this?" Tony's tortured voice asks, pointing at the thing hooking him up to the battery.**

**"That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart. Hmm?" He says nodding to Tony then going back to his cooking. Tony zips up the jacket and brings his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs and curling into a ball. Then he looks up and sees the camera. "That's right. Smile." The man says into the silence of the cave. "We met once, you know, at a technical conference in Bern."**

**"I don't remember," Tony says in his scratchy voice looking off to the side and trying to remember.**

"I do now," Tony says quietly sitting in a ball the same as he was in the movie still holding onto Bruce's arm.

 **"No, you wouldn't." The bald man starts, "If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated** **circuits." The man finishes in amusement.**

**"Where are we?" Tony asks his voice still sounding absolutely awful, still not looking at the man. Suddenly there is a loud noise on the opposite side of the door and people speaking loudly in Arabic.**

"Tony do you speak-" Steve starts only for Tony to cut him off.

"Yes, but I won't let them know that. It's Arabic." Tony says.

**"Come on, stand up. Stand up!" The bald man says softly but** **insistently, grabbing Tony's arm and pulling him out of his ball. "Just do as I do." He says in the same quietly urgent voice. "Come on, put your hands up!" The doors opened and three large Arabic men came in.**

**"Those are my guns... How did they get my guns?" Tony muttered quiet enough that his voice didn't sound too horrible as he saw the weapons, face full of confusion and uncertainty.**

Wanda looked at Stark in shock and the movie paused. "You really don't know how they got your weapons... Do you?" She said, realizing that she may have been wrong about the billionaire all along.

"Obadiah was dealing under the table and I was naive enough to think he had my best interests in mind. I was wrong and he was a horrible person." Tony said sincerely and quietly, really only speaking to Wanda despite everyone hearing. Wanda let out a shaky breath and brought her hand to her mouth with Natasha comforting her. 

**"Do you understand me? Do as I do." The doctor (the bald man) said. Then the man in the middle raised his arms and started speaking in Arabic while moving further into the cave. Tony pretending that he couldn't understand what they were saying.**

"Yinsen translated all the important bits to me because he didn't know I could speak Arabic so you'll be caught up." Says Stark quietly, remembering the words the first time they were said to him. "And, for the record, before you guys yell at me I was trying to see what their boundaries were in the next bit. I was purposely being an idiot." He continued just as softly.

 **"He says, 'Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America... He is honored'" The bald man translates when the man speaking gestures for him to do so."He wants you to build the missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated." The bald man takes the picture that the man is holding out for him and shows Stark, "This one." he says. Tony looks at the picture before looking back at the man with calculating eyes,** **determination and defiance clear when he says.**

**"I refuse," Tony's rough voice says.**

"THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY IN THAT SITUATION," Clint shouts, making Tony flinch and getting pushed back down by Natasha. 

**The man that was speaking looked shocked and then the scene cuts. The camera is at the bottom of a tub of some kind filled with water and then the calm water is disrupted. Tony's head is shoved under and he screams out and thrashes as he is held under. He is pulled back up, choking and gasping then is quickly shoved back under. There is a man behind him that is completely bald watching Tony be tortured with a sadistic smile. The water soaked through his shirt and shows whip marks that aren't anywhere near new and cigar scars on the tops of his shoulders. The battery gets water on it and it shocks Tony, spasms going through his body as there are sparks everywhere as he is being electrocuted through the water. Then, as if they were inside Tony's head they hear Pepper scream "Tony!". There is a flash of light and a metal circle and then Tony is pulled back out gasping and groaning.**

"You heard me when they were torturing you?" Pepper asked in a quiet, astonished voice. 

Tony just clears his throat and looks around, "Next question" he says quietly.

"What was that?" Steve asks in a quietly confused voice.

"It's called waterboarding" Natasha starts, "It makes you feel like your drowning when you aren't" she finishes, and then there's a pause.

"You have the burns on your back, from the car battery shocking you through water, but that isn't the time that it happened... They kept torturing you... And the burns and whip marks on your back were at least 20 years old..." Bruce guesses only getting a nod from Tony in confirmation before the movie starts to play again. Everyone is silent, realizing it must have been Howard. Steve getting a constipated look on his face trying to rationalize that it wasn't the Howard he knew. 

**They shove a bag over the billionaire's head then drag him along outside. Once they get outside you can see Tony in just a thin shirt, pants, and a jacket holding the battery to his chest. The bag gets ripped off and the screen goes white to show how Tony felt suddenly seeing the sun again. Then a canyon with thousands of Stark weapons comes into focus. They shove him down closer to the weapons, the doctor still there with him. The man starts to speak again then the bald man translates.**

**"He wants to know what you think."**

**"I think you got a lot of my weapons." Tony's voice sounds even worst now, weak and rough all at once.**

**"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make a list of materials. He says for you to start working** **immediately and, when you're done, he will set you free." The doctor finishes translating. Tony looks back at the Arabic man who nods and tries to look sincere then back to the bald translator. Then he shakes the Arabic man's hand. With a polite smile and a nod.** ****

**"No he won't," Tony says quietly to the translator, keeping his pleasant smile and hoping the Arabic man can't speak English.**

**"No he won't" replies the translator in English with a smile and a nod to the Arabic man. The Arabic man just smiles, confirming he can't speak English and thinking that he just convinced Tony to build the missile. Tony looks around and sees the man that was smiling while they tortured him, identifying him as the leader.**

"At least you found who's running the show." says the red-haired assassin.

"His name is Raza." says the abnormally quiet billionaire. 

**The scene changes again and Tony is back on the cot in a ball. He is wearing the same pants with the same jacket zipped to his neck with a blue beanie. He is just sitting there watching the fire with a hopeless look in his eyes.** ****

**"I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains." The bald man starts.**

"Wow, way to kill the party." Says Rhodey quietly 

"What party?" Stark replies making most of the team freeze at the lingering hopelessness in his eyes from just remembering.

**"Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark. Your life's work in the hands of those murderers! Is that how you want to go out?.. Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?" The man tries to get Tony to respond to anything that he says, crouching down next to Tony and making eye contact.**

**"Why should I do anything?" Tony asks in a quiet, hopeless tone with his painful voice.**

Steve silently thinks that he will do anything to stop having Tony sound that way again. 

**"They're going to kill me, you, either way." Tony continues in that awful tortured, hopeless, voice, "And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week."**

**"Well, then. This is a very important week for you,** **isn't it? Hmm?" The doctor asks the hostage (Tony) smiling when he sees a spark of defiance in Tony's eyes. The scene changes to supplies being brought in and Tony directing them.**

"You build them the missile?!" Wanda and Steve ask at the same time shocked.

"Do you really think that little of me?" Tony asks shocked then resigned. "Of course you do." He answers his own question. "No, I didn't build the missile and if you'd watch the damn movie you would know that." He says while Bruce gives Steve and Wanda a dirty look. At least Steve has the consideration to look a bit ashamed. 

**"If this is going to be my work station, I want it well-lit. I want these up." Tony is saying, The bald man translating for him and people moving all around the cave to set everything up. "I need welding gear. I don't care if it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two sets of precision tools." Tony lists, the scene changing to show that outside the cave it's daytime. Then the scene changes again and it's Tony taking apart one of the missiles.**

**"How many languages do you speak?" Tony asks the bald man when they are alone again.**

**"A lot. But apparently, not enough for this place." Tony chuckles a little bit then goes back to taking apart the bomb, "They speak Arabic,** **Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian." The doctor finished speaking as Tony takes out the inside of the bomb.**

**"Who are these people?" Tony asks for the second time.**

**"They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings." The doctor says as Tony puts the inside of the missile on the table. The scene changes to the people who are watching the camera feed. They are talking amongst themselves in a foreign language then the camera goes back to what Tony is doing.**

**"You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process." The bald man says as he kneels next to Tony who is taking apart another bomb.**

**"Uh-hu" Tony responds absentmindedly as he just continues working on the bomb.**

**He punches the head of the bomb twice and it comes off then he reaches in and pulls out the insides.**

"How did you know that you weren't going to blow yourselves up?" Steve asked, watching as Tony puts his entire hand in the bomb. Tony just gives him a shrug and says

"We didn't," Nobody asks any more questions.

**Tony takes the insides of the bomb and puts it on the table, using pliers to get something off of it then throwing the rest over his shoulder saying "Okay, we don't need this." with a note of finality in his voice.**

**"What is that?" The doctor asks. Tony holds the pliers up to the light to show the bald man and says.**

**"That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?" Tony replies. then the movie shows the people watching the camera feed again.**

**"What's he doing?" One of them asks in Arabic.**

**"Working" another replied without looking at the camera. Then it goes back to Tony who is fixing the smelting cut and placing the sand. Then the doctor gets the smelting cup out of the fireplace and brings it over the sand Tony just fixed.**

**"Careful, careful. We only get one shot at this." Tony says, standing behind the bald man with his car battery behind his back.**

**"Relax. I have steady hands." The doctor pauses when they finally get to the table and jokes, "Why do you think you're still alive? Huh?" When they finally make it back to the table Tony puts down his car battery and watches the doctor pour the melted palladium into the sand.**

"That was an awful joke," Clint says seriously with a small frown on his face, everyone in the room nodding with him.

"He was trying to get me in a better mental state than I was in by talking about it," Tony says then the movie turns back on.

**"What do I call you?" He asks while the doctor is pouring, just to fill the silence.**

**"My name is Yinsen." The doctor replies.**

**"Yinsen. Nice to meet you." Tony says trying to keep a sense of normalcy then Yinsen finishes pouring the palladium into the sand.**

**"Nice to meet you, too," Yinsen replies, taking the smelting cup back to the fire. Tony waits until the palladium** **ring hardens then picks it up with tweezers with Yinsen admiring his own work. Then Stark puts the ring into another ring and Starks welding. Carefully and slowly until the arc reactor is made. The familiar blue light glowing and momentarily shorting out the lights in the cave.**

"You... you built the arc reactor in a cave?!" Bruce said in a rare show of awe. "That definitely wasn't in your file." He says again.

"Yeah, well, I didn't think it took a rocket scientist, and by the way you have some of those, to realize that I didn't have a piece of metal in my chest before Afghanistan," Tony says and everyone quiets down again.

**Tony looks down at the reactor, not really looking proud of it but watching for flaws, blue light shining in his face.**

**"Wow. That** **doesn't look like a Jericho missile." Yinsen says, having walked up behind Stark looking at the glowing blue machine awed.**

"You are absolutely crazy if you're going to do what I think you're going to do," Fury says, realization in his eyes.

"I have been called many things and crazy is definitely one of the" Tony replies then goes back to watching the movie.

 **"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor," Tony explains, lights still flickering in the background. "I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the** **shrapnel out of my heart." The inventor says, flicking the arc reactor.**

**"But what could it generate?" Asks the doctor.**

**"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second."**

**"That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes." The doctor says suitably impressed.**

**"Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes." Tony replies. The scene changes to be looking up at Tony as he shows Yinsen the blueprints.**

**"This is our ticket out of here," Tony says as he aligns all of the layers so that the suit shows properly.**

**"What is it?"**

**"Flatten them out and look," Tony says, and when Yinsen does he sees Mark I.**

**"Oh. Wow..... Impressive." Yinsen whispers in awe. The scene changes to show the outside of the cave where people are sitting around a fire. Then it shows Tony laying on the cot with his arms holding onto the top and his heels digging into the bed through the recording. Another haunting scream coming through the camera as Yinsen stands over him and switches out the arc reactor. When Yinsen finally moves away Tony lays there, panting, for a couple of minutes then gets up. Sitting up on the bed then moving around, the reactor showing as a huge blue light right on his chest through the recording. Then he put his shirt back on.**

"You didn't tell me it hurt you that much!" Pepper yelled shocked as she smacks Tony's arm.

"Would you have helped me if I did tell you?" He asked Pepper, calmly rubbing his arm where she had hit.

"Of course not!" 

"Then I would have died. That exposed wire was shocking me every couple of seconds or if I moved and my options were doing it myself, you, or Dum-E." He says patiently just calmly sitting in the silence. 

"Why didn't you have Yinsen fix it in the cave?" Pepper asked, horrified.

"Because I didn't know what was causing it until I got back home." He says collected "Are you okay to play the movie or would you like to sit here and debate something that is already over and done with?" He says again and when nobody objected the movie played again.

 **The scene changed to an Arabic board game. "Shesh** **Besh," Tony says as the dice roll and then he moves some of the washers. Yinsen chuckles.**

**"Good... Good roll. Good roll." Yinsen says.**

**"You still haven't told me where you're from," Tony says quietly while Yinsen rolls.**

**"I'm from a small town called Gulmira," Yinsen replies.** ****

Fury, Natasha, and Clint all take in a shocked breath, ignoring the questioning looks.

**"It's actually a nice place." Yinsen finishes his turn as he says it.**

**"Got a family?" Stark asks.**

**"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here." He replies.**

"Dammit, Yinsen!" Tony says with clenched fists obviously realizing something the others didn't follow after the SHIELD workers and ignoring the looks he got.

**"And you, Stark?" Tony just looks at Yinsen for a moment then goes back to getting his tea and finishing his turn.**

"Oh, Tony," Pepper says horrified.

**"No," Tony says quietly.**

**"No?" Yinsen repeats, "So you're a man who has everything.....and nothing," Yinsen says slowly. The scene changes to outside the doors of the cave where the Arabic man from the beginning looks in the slot on the door to check up on them. Then they leave going back the way they came. The scene changes again to show Tony's worktable, tools, and pieces of the suit everywhere with no decreeable pattern to anyone but Stark. The sound of welding doing through the cave. Stark is wearing the goggles to protect his eyes and fitting pieces of the suit together.**

"Wait, how did you work on the suit when you were being watched by the camera?" Steve asks.

"We just ignored the camera and hoped that they were too stupid to put together what was going on," Tony says with a quiet laugh. "It's a wonder how they didn't realize sooner but it gave me barely enough time." He continued as the movie started again.

**The movie then goes back to the people who were watching through the camera in the cave, they were comparing pictures of the missile to what Tony was building while speaking in Arabic.**

**"It doesn't look anything like the picture." one says.**

**"Maybe it's been modified."**

**"The tail is wrong"**

**"It's just backward," they argued amongst themselves. Then it showed the people outside with the fire again. The scene changes to show the leader also watching the camera but seeing Tony sitting on the table and testing something that looked like leg** **armor.**

"Did you think they would be stupid enough to ignore that?" Natasha asked with a scoff.

"No, but I needed to test it and there really weren't many options," Tony said in a quiet tone, getting quieter as the movie went on.

**The next part of the movie showed there was someone outside the door yelling in Arabic. So, Tony turned off the welding gear and took off the helmet and both Yinsen and the billionaire stood in the middle of the cave so the terrorists could come in. The leader came in as well.**

**"Relax." He said to Tony giving permission to put their hands to their sides. Then he walked up to Tony and pulled his shirt down to see the arc reactor. "The bow and arrow," he continued his monologue, "Once was the** **pinnacle of weapons technology."**

"Once!" Clint shouted getting up like he was about to throw a punch making everyone in the room laugh while Natasha pulled him back down to sit.

**"It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire." The leader said as he walked around the cave and found the blueprints. Making Tony tense and Yinsen motion for him to calm down. The leader didn't find anything wrong with the blueprints so he put them back down. "But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons, rules these lands. And so, it'll be my turn." He continues as he walks back to stand in front of Tony. Then he starts to speak Urdu to Yinsen.**

**"Why have you failed me?" The leader says in a language Stark can't understand.**

**"We're working. Diligently." Yinsen replies in the same language as the leader walks over to him and away from Tony.**

**"I let you live. This is how you repay me?"**

**"It's very complex. He's trying very hard."**

**"On his knees" The leader ordered and some of the solider put Yinsen on his knees. The leader chuckling as Yinsen is manhandled.**

**"You think I'm a fool? I'll get the truth."**

**"We're both working." Yinsen tries again as the leader gets a lump of burning hot coal from the fireplace and brings it back over to where Yinsen is kneeling.**

**"Open your mouth." the leader says with a smile, pushing Yinsen's head onto the anvil.**

**"What does he want?" Tony asked, understanding what is going to happen and trying to buy time.**

**"You think I'm a fool?" The leader asks Yinsen again.**

**"What's going on?" Tony asks, again trying to get the attention on himself.**

"Oh my god!" Pepper says horrified just as Wanda catches on and puts a hand to her mouth.

"Oh, please no!" Wanda says grabbing Clint's arm for comfort. Everyone except for Tony is collectively holding their breath.

**"Tell me the truth." the leader says, the coal getting closer to Yinsen's mouth at every question.**

**"He's building your Jericho," Yinsen says stubbornly.**

**"THE TRUTH"**

**"THE JERICHO"**

**"THE TRUTH"**

**"What do you want? A delivery date?" Stark asks snidely, stepping forwards and getting dozens of guns trained on him in exchange. After a pause of Tony thinking, he looks** **determinedly at the leader and says.**

**"I need him... Good assistant." and then the leader dropped the coal right in front of Yinsen's nose.**

**"You have till tomorrow, to assemble my missile." says the leader then they all leave, shutting the doors behind them, speaking Urdu the entire time. Then the scene changes and Tony is hammering a piece of metal over the anvil.** ********

"Friend Tony would make an excellent blacksmith!" Says Thor, delighted with his friend.

"I'm okay with hammering out metal but, I'm an inventor more than a blacksmith," Tony says with a gentle smile at his excitable friend. 

"Tony... When did you get so buff?" Clint asks slyly, getting the finger from Tony and causing everyone to laugh.

**Then Tony puts the faceplate into a bucket of water to cool and he shows it to Yinsen by dropping it on the table.**

"That thing is creepy," Clint says with a shudder.

"Oh come on!" says Tony exasperated "Should I have made it smiling?" He asks with an are you kidding me look.

**Tony tapes up his hands while Yinsen hangs up the suit.**

"What's that for?" Pepper asks

"I had so many burns, blisters, bruises, and everything else that I don't think I could have put the gloves on without it. I still have the scars." He says, holding his hands up to show the burns and silvery line on his hands and going down his arms. Then the movie continues.

**Then Yinsen helps Tony get into a leather jacket, leather gloves, and a thick collar to keep the metal of the suit away from his neck. Then Yinsen helps Tony get into the suit, Tony wincing with a groan when the chest piece locks onto the arc reactor.**

**"Okay? Can you move?" Yinsen asks, their main concern satisfied when Tony answers by clenching his fist. "Okay, say it again," Yinsen says just to give him something to do while they get the suit on.**

**"41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right." Stark repeats** **dutifully.**

"You remember that from the one time they took you out of that cave when you had a bag on your head and had just been tortured for who knows how long!?" Asked Natasha incredulously while Tony just gave her a cocky smirk.

"I told you I was a genius, I mean come on! I review blueprints in my head!" He says with a laugh from his place leaning against Bruce. 

* * *

_I didn't mean for this to be a Bruce/Tony but this seems to be the way that it's going and I'm not going to object soooooo,..._

* * *

**The scene changes to Raza (the leader) looking at the recording system and trying to find Tony.**

**"Where is Stark?" He asks in Arabic**

**"He was here a moment ago." a soldier answers in the same language.**

**"Go look for him," Raza says, sending the soldier into the cave.**

"Oh my god," Pepper says and takes a deep breath along with everyone else in the room including Tony, remembering what happened next.

**The soldiers Raza sent go through the cave system, taking a while to get to the cave but when they get there they yell through the door.**

**"Yinsen... Yinsen... Stark?" They scream through the door.**

**The camera pans to show Yinsen helping Stark into the suit, Yinsen kind of freaking out, and Tony being calm enough for the both of them.**

**"Say** **something. Say something back to him." Stark says to Yinsen**

**"He's speaking Hungarian... I don't... "**

**"Then speak Hungarian" Tony replies calmly, not panicking to make Yinsen more relaxed.** ****

Fury scoffs at Tony's comment.

**"Okay. I know..."**

**"What do you know?" Stark asks in response Yinsen yells back at them with the little Hungarian he knows.**

**The camera pans back to the door that the men are shouting through and pans down so that the viewers can see the bomb attached to the door.** **A couple of soldiers open the door, making the bomb go off that blast in their face and they die. The camera that was showing the door of the cave shorts out and Raza shouts out orders to stop them from leaving.**

**"How'd that work?" Tony asks after Yinsen comes back into his line of sight.**

**"Oh, my goodness. It worked all right."**

**"That's what I do," Tony says, somewhat bitterly.**

**"Let me finish this," Yinsen says calmer than before.**

**"Initialize the power sequence."**

**"Okay!" Yinsen says looking at the computer and dropping the tools.**

**"Now!"**

**"Tell me, tell me!" The doctor is leaned over the computer waiting for instructions.**

**"Function 11. Tell me when you see a progress bar: It should be up right now... Talk to me, tell me when you see it!" Tony says, panicking slightly.**

Tony, still holding Bruce and Pepper, holds a little tighter while the memories come to mind, making him remembers what happened after that.

**"I have it" Yinsen comments.**

**"Press Control 1.......** **Come over here and button me up."**

"You're not going to have enough time." Fury comments, it's not a question, it's a statement. The certainty that he says it with makes everyone take a sharp breathe, even Wanda.

**"Ok, all right," Tony says just to fill the crushing silence of the cave. "Every other hex bolt." Tony continues, trying to hurry up the process.**

**"They're coming!" Yinsen says frantically as he finishes buttoning up the suit.**

**"Nothing pretty, just get it done... Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?" Tony keeps talking trying to reassure himself and Yinsen both.**

**"We need more time...I'm gonna buy you some more time!" Yinsen shouts, already running for the entrance of the cave while Tony is stuck waiting for the loading bar.**

Everyone gasps at the realization of why Stark is acting the way that he is.

**Panic suddenly fills Tony's features, realizing what Yinsen intends to do.**

**"Sick to the plan!" He shouts, anxiety suddenly showing on every plane of the billionaire's face "Stick to the plan!" He shouts one more time... But Yinsen is already gone. The loading bar finally finishes and the cave goes dark. There is a click and then a loud thud before the cave turns eerily silent. The three men that have come to investigate go into the dark cave, looking around and seeing the fully loaded computer. There is a flash of a gloved hand clenching then releasing, then one of the men stands in front of the suit and sees the blue light of the arc reactor. With the arc reactor lighting up the cave Tony punches the guy in front of him and he goes flying, shooting useless bullets as he flies across the room and slams into the wall, crumbling like a marionette with its strings cut. Another punch has the second guy on the ground, the bullets he shot flying harmlessly off the** **suit. The picture backs up and part of the suit shows for the first time, a big tank of a thing, nothing like the current suit.**

"Friend Tony?" Thor says in shock and awe, getting nods off agreement all the way around.

"Holy shit," Steve says under his breath but in the quiet everyone hears him.

"Language" Natasha dutifully repeats, making everyone laugh.

"I told you that I was a genius, I didn't think I had to explain what that meant," Tony says cockily, trying to diffuse tension before everything goes wrong. It works and the movie plays on. 

**Tony starts walking down the hall, bullets being fired at him but they just slid right off the armor. One brave soldier charges up to Tony and tries to shoot him, the billionaire simply punches him into the wall. As he continues down the hallway, Raza's followers finally realize that they don't have a chance, so they close the door to stop Tony from getting any** **further, locking one of their men in there with him. The soldier pounds on the door begging to be let out as the suit comes up behind him, then there is a thump, and the screaming stops. The cave is once again eerily silent.**

Clint winces, having a pretty good idea of what's next, and next to him Natasha's face twitches. Nick blinks his eye and they all look towards Tony with apologies on their lips.

"It's fine," Tony says quickly, catching the attention of the others in the room. "Let's just finish this, please,"

**Then, there are more loud thumps as the billionaire bangs down the door. The door flies open, knocking out one guy and the rest run for their lives. As the genius keeps going down in the cave system he punches more people, his arm getting stuck in the rock wall at one point. While his arm is stuck another brave soldier comes up to him and shoots him in the head, only for the bullet to ricochet and shoot him in the head instead. The scene changes to Raza loading a rocket launcher and aiming for the entrance of the cave hallway he is in, waiting for Tony to come.**

"Oh no," says Natasha sympathetically, causing everyone to wince 

**"Yinsen!" the genius shouts as he gets to the entrance, having eyes only for Yinsen and completely missing Raza.**

**"Watch out!" The doctor says, the words seem to take a lot out of him so Tony ducks, missing the shot from Raza, and turns around. Opening something on his arm he shoots a missile of his own at Raza, hitting the wall and sending the wall crumbling down on top of him. Once a few seconds pass and Raza doesn't move Tony goes to Yinsen, pushing up the mask and helping Yinsen move the rice bags off of himself.**

**"Stark..."**

**"Come on, we got to go!" Tony says, ignoring what the doctor was going to say and desperately trying to get him up. His face was gleaming with sweat, hair stuck to his forehead, and his eyes worried. But anyone who knew him saw the sadness, pain, and defiance. "Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're going to stick to it."**

**"This was always the plan, Stark" Yinsen replies quietly and seemingly painfully, struggling to stay awake just a little bit longer and say what needs to be said.**

"Oh my god," Wanda says, finally starting to see the real Tony Stark and how his story was forged in pain, loss, blood, and fire.

**"Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up." The billionaire says, almost begging. The dying man shows no sign of moving.**

**"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark" Yinsen confirms, knowing Tony has always thought that it was a possibility. Tony swallows hard and finally stops trying to move Yinsen, just holding his hand.**

**"It's okay... Want this... I want this." the doctor says as his eyes start to droop. Tony's entire demeanor was scared and unsure, a horribly sad smile onto his face, knowing what happens next.**

**"Thank you, for saving me," Tony says sincerely, blinking rapidly and not really making eye contact.**

**"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life." Yinsen says quietly, breathing heavily one last time. Then he was still.**

Tony is holding onto Bruce tightly, having let go of Pepper when he heard her hiss of pain, and obviously lost in the memories of his dead friend. 

"I knew logically that there was something wrong about the way that he spoke of his family and our plan, that there was something he wasn't telling me..." Tony starts quietly, trying to explain to the best of his abilities why he acted the way he acted. "I knew, but I wouldn't let myself go there because- because I wouldn't have left that cave if he had told me what he was really going to do." He finishes, letting out a breath and wiping his eyes.

"It's not your fault, you know.." Bruce says quiet enough that only Pepper, Tony, Fury, Thor, and Rhodey hear.

"I know," Tony says with a sad smile, squeezing Bruce's shoulder in thanks. "But it never makes it any easier." The billionaire finishes, making Wanda flinch from the sad tone of voice, then the movie starts again.

**In an instant, instead of the sad on the verge of crying Tony's face shifts, a dark look in his eyes and a murderous look on his face replace all the sad. Like the flip of a switch.**

"ut-oh," Clint says quietly getting slapped in the back of the head by Natasha.

**The suit jerks as he walks away from his friend's body, he doesn't look back and looks determinedly at the mouth of the cave. The view changes to show the rest of the soldiers are outside, waiting for Tony to come so that they can shoot him. There is a series of footsteps from the dark cave, loud, resounding, clanging footsteps that make the soldiers shift the louder they become. A faint circle of light can be seen by the soldiers, making them take a step back before the entire suit is shown for the first time. The armor looks dangerous, unyielding even. Then, signaled, all the soldiers start to shoot, the suit not even moving backward from the force of the bullets. Tony's eyes show that he refuses to fall over or break, determination, resentment, and resignation all showing clearly. The soldiers stop after a while, realizing how ineffective their guns are. Finally, Tony speaks.**

**"My turn," he says, voice hard and murderous causing every soldier that can hear him take a step back.**

Wanda flinches, realizing that Tony has been going easy on her the entire time that they had to know each other, and Clint whistles, clearly surprised.

"You're fucking scary when you're angry," Clint says quietly, getting a half-hearted glare out of the trembling billionaire.

**Tony lifts the arms of the robot and the flamethrowers come to life, killing all the soldiers and making the fire spread rapidly. Tony makes sure to get the explosives too. People are screaming as the fire engulfs their camp. Tony burns everything in sight.**

"Those are explosives, Tony!"...Steve starts, everyone, recognizing his ranting tone. "You're going to blow up yourself and everyone else!"

"So I become a mass murderer to escape from being hostage and your concern is that I'm going to blow myself up?" Tony asks in a quiet voice, instantly stopping any further protest. The movie starts again.

**A man higher up starts to shoot at Tony and that starts another round. Someone gets a lucky shot in and the bullet makes him kneel, the joint in the knee not cooperating.**

When the suit stops like that everyone except Tony takes a breath and gets to the edge of their seats, Thor's hold on Mjolnir's handle turning his knuckles white.

**Though everyone thinks they stopped him, Tony's far from done even when on his knees surrounded by flames practically being cooked alive. He shoots more fire, making sure that he got absolutely everything and causing a nearby crate to explode, their bullets still bouncing off of the metal of the suit. Finally, Tony gets to his feet and flips a red switch on the inside of his wrist. In a second the thing is in the air, getting away from the camp.**

"You built an entire suit out of the scraps of a couple of missiles in a cave and the thing can fly!?" Clint says incredulously. Tony just gives him a deadpan stare and points to himself.

"Genius", He says the word slowly, as if talking to a toddler and everyone laughs then the movie continues in lighter spirits.

**The suit is shown extremely high above the canyon that he was in, then the boosters fail. The suit dive-bombing into a sand dune as pieces of it come off in flight. Tony is shouting as the suit falls and then it lands hard, causing Tony to give a loud, pained, grunt. The** **scene shifts to show a half-armored Tony laying in a sand crater, blood, and dirt covering every inch of him. Tony looks around for a moment then shakes one arm of the suit off, then the other, before reaching up and taking off the faceplate. He gets up to stand with more pained grunts then looks around, no doubt in extreme levels of pain..**

**"Not bad." He says in a bit of humor, smirking at the armor before stopping and quickly looking around again.**

"You built that it a cave and when you do amazing things with literal scrap metal it's 'not bad'?!" Clint says in something similar to awe. Tony clears his throat and starts to point to himself to repeat the last thing he said when Bruce grabbed his hand and held it down. Tony pouts at Bruce but the movie starts again before he can say anything to defend himself. 

**The scene changes again and now Tony is jogging through the desert with no notable landmarks, jackets draped over his head and neck to protect from the unforgiving rays of the harsh sun. His jeans are torn and there is blood and dirt everywhere, his arc reactor still glowing through his dark green wife beater.**

"How long were you out there?" Wanda asks, her accent more thick than usual with emotion. Tony shifts uncomfortably and shoves a hand through his hair, not letting go of Bruce.

"I don't know, nobody does..." He starts and everyone takes in a deep breath and sounding distinctly bitter, Rhodey flinching from his spot next to Pepper at the tone "But I have to assume that it was about 5 days, otherwise I would have passed out from exhaustion, dehydration, starvation or a nice mix of the three." He says in a falsely positive voice causing everyone in the room that was insulting him to flinch minutely again.

**As the billionaire walks over another sand dune he hears the faint sound of a helicopter, making him look up.**

**"HEY! HEY!" He screams in an awful sounding voice and waving his good arm. He keeps shouting until the helicopter landed and then he starts laughing, somewhat hysterically, as Rhodey runs to him. He falls to his knees and holds up the peace sign until Rhodey gets to him, a look of pure relief mixed with pain on his face.**

The look makes some of the team's eyes water, but they get themselves together and the movie starts before Tony can make a sarcastic comment about it.

**Rhodey's face is full of relief and concern as he kneels down in front of Tony and grabs his shoulders.**

**"How was the** **fun-vee?" Rhodey asks sarcastically, not knowing what else to say. Tony lets out a forced laugh that turns into a sob and buries his face into his best friend's shoulder. "Next time you ride with me, okay?" Rhodey asks pulling his friend completely into a hug, Tony wrapping himself around Rhodey and not letting go.**

Everyone watching seems to be on the verge of tears, specifically Rhodey and Tony, remembering that moment as if it was happening again.

* * *

 _Hello everyone, I'm trying to finish this but, I really, really, really am not having the drive to do anything lately. Anyway, I'm finishing this off at my leisure and it will be done sooner or later... If you don't like it fuck off..._


	4. Meet Obadiah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper is so done with Tony.

_When I started writing this story it was because I was bored out of my mind and had nothing better to do, what I didn't expect was all the support that I got from you guys so, thank you! Anyways, sorry for the wait, not a lot of inspiration during the quarantine but hey, The chapter is here now! Okie, enough of the talking..._

_I don't own shit... blah-blah-blah.._

* * *

**The scene shifts to Pepper and Happy waiting for Tony to get out of a plane. Pepper’s hair is a mess and her eyes are puffy but she stands tall and still as she waits for Tony to get out. Happy stands by the car, his eyes hiding behind a pair of sunglasses but his stance is tense as he waits for Tony.**

**A ramp lowers down from the plane and Tony gets out of the wheelchair with Rhodey’s help. His arm is in a sling and he is no longer as grimy as he was before - he was even wearing a suit. He didn't look like he was ever crying and there was a butterfly bandage above his eyebrow. Rhodey helped him stay upright, making sure Tony could lean on him as much as he needed to.**

"Wow, I didn't realize that I looked like that when I got off. I thought it would be much worst." Tony murmured in a thoughtful tone. Most everyone in the room winced at that. 

**“Watch it, coming up here,” Rhodey warned Tony.**

**“Are you kidding me with this?” Tony asked as a stretcher comes into view. “Get rid of them.”**

Everyone in the room scoffed, relieved to see Tony getting back to his usual self, only Bruce realizing that it was all a mask.

**The stretcher goes away.**

**Pepper doesn’t even try to hold back her smile when Tony looks at her, she’s even biting her lower lip out of relief and happiness.**

**“Hmm,” Tony said as he reached her. “Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?”**

**“Tears of joy,” Pepper said, her voice thick. “I hate job hunting.”**

**“Yeah, vacation’s over,” Tony said.**

"You know that I was joking, right?" Pepper said, still tearing up in remembrance. 

"Deflection is my tactic, I know you meant it but not in a rude way," Tony said, knowing how many times he had used something similar to piss people off.

**Tony and Pepper sit at the back of the car with Happy at the wheel.**

**“Where to, sir?” Happy asked.**

**“Take us to the hospital, please, Happy.” Pepper began.**

**“No.” Tony interrupted.**

**“No? Tony you have to go.”**

**“No is a complete answer,” Tony said, looking at her.**

**“The doctor has to look at you.”**

**“I don't have to do anything.”**

**“I've been in captivity for three months.” That silences Pepper.**

"You were there for three months? That made it look like a couple of weeks at most!" Steve said, shocked.

"I wish" Tony mumbled. 

**“There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger. And the other -”**

**“That’s enough of that,” Pepper said, a put-out expression on her face.**

Everyone laughed at the look on Pepper's face 

**“...is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now.”**

**“Call for a press conference? What on Earth?”**

**“Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first.”**

**The car arrives at a rather important looking destination so the viewer can assume that Tony got his cheeseburger and this is the press conference. People are clapping as the car comes to a stop.**

**Obadiah is there.**

**“Look at this!” Obadiah said as he opened the door for Tony. “Huh?”**

Tony tightens his hands into fists, realizing that Obadiah would have been at the airport if he really ever cared. Hindsight. 

**Tony hugs the man after three months of not seeing him.**

**“We were going to meet at the hospital.” Tony turns around to see Happy giving him a cheeseburger. He reached into the bag and retrieves what he needs.**

**“No, I’m fine,” Tony said in reply.**

**“You had to have a burger, yeah?”**

**“Well, come on.”**

**“You get me one of those?” Obadiah asked about the burger.**

"How rude," Clint says with a disgusted look on his face, the idea of someone stealing his food crossing the line in his head. Tony snorted, knowing him well enough to see his line of thinking. 

**“There's only one left. I need it.”**

**The conference room is full as they enter it, people erupt into a round of applause. Tony takes in the people’s claps with pride and Pepper just smiles at the sight. She stays at the back when a small man said, “Miss Potts.”**

All the SHIELD agents twitched, knowing that Coulson was alive, and realized that nobody else knew from the look on Steve's face. But, what the spies also didn't know what that Tony knew that he was alive as well. 

**“Yes?” Pepper said a cue for him to talk.**

**“Can I speak to you for a moment?”**

**“I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now.” She clearly thought that Coulson was a news reporter.**

**“I'm not a reporter.” He said with that smile of his. “I'm agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.”**

"That's what SHIELD stands for?" Asks Wanda with a look of confusion causing everyone to chuckle. 

"It was a work in progress," Says Fury with a deadpan look on his face.

"Or someone really just wanted to spell Shield," Tony says with a cheeky glint in his eye, causing the tension to pop and everyone to burst out laughing at the director's expense. 

**“That's quite a mouthful.” Pepper doesn’t seem alarmed that an agent is speaking to her. Phil hands her a card and she takes it.**

**“I know,” He said. “We’re working on it.”**

**“You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA…” Pepper trailed off, seemingly used to government people asking her for things.**

"Is that normal?" Asks Bruce from his place as Tony's personal pillow.

"Yep, Stark weapons were the best in the business." The billionaire said with not a little amount of bitterness and causing Rhodey to wince. 

**“We're a separate division with a more specific focus,” Coulson said. “We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape.”**

**“I'll put something in the book, shall I?”**

Tony scoffed, letting everyone know just what he thought about having another meeting added to his schedule. 

**“Thank you,” Coulson said before meandering off.**

**Obadiah stands at the microphone saying ‘ah’ to test it, maybe. Tony is leaning against the podium, “Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down? Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can… A little less formal and...”**

Several people scoff, "You can't seriously think that that's going to work do y-" Clint starts, then stops as the movie continues and everyone sits down jaw-dropping.

**He takes a bite out of his cheeseburger as the audience sits down, Obadiah sits with him.**

"If nothing else Tony Stark has always been able to control a room," Pepper says with a smile at everyone's incredulity. 

**“What's up with the love-in?” Rhodey asked Pepper as he sits by her.**

**“Don’t look at me, I don’t know what he’s up to.” Pepper smiles.**

**“Good to see you,” Tony said to Obadiah who has a very large grin on his face - a little too large.**

"I was so fucking blind!" Tony says, frustrated with himself seeing how fake the smile looked. The others that don't know about Obadiah all gave him a weird look. 

**“Good to see you,” He replied.**

**“I never got to say goodbye to Dad,”**

Steve looks really guilty and doesn't realize that Tony already knows that his parents were murdered by Bucky and knows that he knows. He doesn't realize that they will never be friends again and Tony doesn't like him at all for what he is hiding. 

**Tony said to the audience. “I never got to say goodbye to my father.”**

**He puts the cheeseburger down.**

**“There are questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels.” Tony said the camera shows Pepper and Rhodey with proud smiles.**

Everyone who ever saw a newsreel about Howard winced, realizing that they were all probably true. 

**“I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability.”**

"Oh my god, that was the timeline? I never realized how quickly you made up your mind about it!" Bruce says, remembering seeing that on TV from Spain. 

"Mmhmm," Tony says absentmindedly, still going through everything he remembers about Obadiah and picking out everything he now knows was manipulation on Obadiah's part. 

**“Mr. Stark?” Someone said from the crowd.**

**“Hey, Ben,” Tony said in his direction.**

**“What happened over there?” Ben asked.**

**“I had my eyes opened.” Tony stood up and moved behind the podium. “I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International.”**

Fury just looked around for the reactions, most people seemingly shocked that he was doing something that Jurassic and others just seeming bored, already knowing about the press conference and already knowing the outcome. (Most didn't even know the half of it.)

**The crowd stands up with questions. Pepper looks shocked, mouth agape.**

**“Until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be,” Tony adds. Obadiah is also speaking into the microphone to stop the conference, face looking panicked before he puts his media mask back on. “I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well.”**

**Tony is led off the stage and Rhodey looks conflicted.**

**“What we should take away from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever.” Obadiah said into the microphone when Tony was a good distance away into the crowd. “We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up.” His voice fades into the background.**

"He's such a dick! Isn't he supposed to be your father figure or something?" Clint asks, still with an angry face from the moment he saw Obadiah put his mask on. 

"He was, he groomed me to be everything that I was from a very young age. He was the one that introduced me to alcohol and my first drug dealer, I only did exactly what he wanted me to." Tony says quietly, trying to forget what that specific drug dealer made him do. 

"WHAT?" Several of the Avengers asked but, mostly Nick got this look of understanding.

"That was when you stopped coming to see me," He says, it's not a question but a statement that requires confirmation.

"Yup, he got me into drugs and encouraged me away from everyone I knew. I let him because it got me away from my parents and he didn't care if I saw Rhodey anyways." Tony says with a shrug like it's normal to be abused and gaslighted since you are able to talk. Nobody says anything more and the movie starts again. 

**Obadiah rides through a parking lot to see Happy leaning against the car with sunglasses on. Obadiah doesn’t look very happy and seems to have a cigar in his mouth.**

**“Where is he?” Obie asked.**

**“He’s inside.” Happy replied.**

**Obadiah uses his card to get access to the building before walking inside. Tony is standing by a metal fence surrounding a very large arc reactor that his father had created. Obadiah puts his hands on his hips, standing a bit far away from Tony, as the billionaire turns to face him.**

**“That, uh,” Obie begins, “That went well.” He said before moving closer to Tony.**

**“Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?” Tony asked.**

**“Your head? What about my head?” Obie retorted. “What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?”**

"Is he actually talking about money right now?" Bruce asks, kind of shocked that he's not putting more effort into making sure that Tony is okay and slowly seeing the parallels to his dad and Obadiah. 

"That was all he ever cared about" the billionaire sitting next to him retorts bitterly.

**“Optimistically, 40 points.”**

**“At a minimum.”**

**“Yep.”**

**“Tony,” Obadiah sounds serious, no longer dancing around the topic. “We're a weapons manufacturer.”**

**“Obie.”**

**“No.”**

**“I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy.”**

**“That's what we do. We're ironmongers. We make weapons.” Obadiah emphasizes.**

**“It's my name on the side of the building.” Tony retorted.**

**“And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos.” Obadiah continued.  
** **  
****“Not based on what I saw,” Tony said, silencing him. “We’re not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else.”**

**“Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?”**

"What is it with people talking about making baby products?!" Steve asks, getting fed up with everyone in the movie. Tony just scoffs, knowing that it was to gaslight him into 'seeing' that his ideas would never work and subtle manipulation. 

**“I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology.” The camera pans to show a wider view of the arc reactor behind them.**

"Holy shit!" Several people say, seeing the arc reactor for the first time.

"I know that you said you miniaturized it but, that's the size of a fucking warehouse!" Clint says, looking at the TV in shock. The billionaire in question just clears him throat again and points to himself.

"Geniu-" Bruce then pulls his finger back down and puts his other hand over his mouth.

"No" 

"But!"

"No"

"Fine!" Tony finished the argument, crossing his arms like a petulant child, making the room crack up. Nobody could contain their laughter anymore. 

**“Come on. The arc reactor, that's a publicity stunt!” Obadiah joked but Tony looks serious. “Tony, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up!”**

**“It works.”**

**“Yeah, as a** **_science project_ ** **,” Obadiah said. “The arc was never cost-effective."**

"That guy is such an asshole!" Natasha says, used to seeing people like him from her time as a Black Widow but, never to that extent. Getting nods of agreement from most of the people in the room. 

**"We knew that before we built it.” Throughout his speech, he keeps circling around Tony. “Arc reactor technology, that's a dead-end, right?”**

"That's a manipulation tactic I used to use a lot on people that were bigger than me," The resident archer said, getting a wince from most of the people in the room Tony included. 

**“Maybe.”**

**“Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? Thirty years.”**

**“That's what they say,” Tony said uncharacteristically quiet. “Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?” The viewer can assume he’s talking about his own arc reactor and that Obie somehow knows about it.**

**“Never mind who told me. Show me.”**

**“It's Rhodey or Pepper.”**

**“I want to see it.”**

**“Okay, Rhodey.”**

"I'm so sorry! I never really realized how much what I did affected what happened then." Rhodey says, quieter than he usually is, thinking about how badly he failed his friend.

"That was part of the reason I asked you to be involved later on, you already knew the important stuff and I wanted to see if you were still the person I knew from college," Tony says, what he doesn't say ringing loudly in Rhodey's head _But you weren't_. 

"What are you guys talking about?" Pepper asks, not really expecting an answer but wanting to continue the movie to get Obadiah off the screen. 

**Tony unbuttons his shirt to reveal the arc reactor embedded in his skin. Obadiah holds him by the shirt to get a closer view of it or to hide anyone else’s view of it. Whilst Tony looks serious, Obadiah looks happy at the sight of it - he was even laughing.**

"Money-grabbing, selfish, manipulative, arrogant-" Clint starts cussing, only stopping when Natasha pulls him back down to the couch. Tony laughing bitterly and thinking how stupid he was all the while. 

"I'm sorry for not seeing it sooner, sir," Jarvis says quietly, making more of the people in the room flinch as they forgot he was there.

"J, I never blamed you for anything that happened." The creator said in a sad tone, disappointed in himself that he ever let his son feel that way about his suffering. 

**“It works,” Tony said.**

**“Listen to me, Tony.” He puts an arm around Tony’s shoulder to curl around to the back of his neck to draw him closer. “We're a team. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I.”**

**“I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay?” Tony said, looking sincere. “But if I had…”**

**“Tony.” He interrupts him. “Tony. No more of this ‘ready, fire, aim’ business. You understand me?”**

**“That was dad’s line.” The billionaire said, sounding disappointed.**

**“You gotta let me handle this,” Obadiah said, letting go of Tony. “We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low.”**

* * *

_Sorry about not posting for so long, I wasn't expecting more than a couple of people to ever want to read anything that I write but, seeing how much appreciation this is getting I decided to power through my writer's block. Thank you for your support!_


	5. Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most things never bother the billionaire, tough skin having been a necessity for the life he had lived. But maybe it wasn't that he didn't care, just that he no longer knew how to allow himself to be vulnerable in front of the world.

_Powering through the fact that I don't really know what to write and just going with the flow._

_I don't own this, I will never own this, I don't want to get sued, thanks._

* * *

**The scene shifts to show a news channel talking about Tony’s announcement and telling him to ‘abandon’ his ‘ship’. Pepper is watching it and gives out a sigh. Pepper watches as the man wrecks a mug with a baseball bat to demonstrate Stark Industries’ new business plan and she winces in surprise.**

**“Pepper, how big are your hands?” Tony asks from a speaker on the Stark Pad. Pepper turns the sound down from the TV.**

Clint instantly cracks up, taking Bruce, Rhodey, and Natasha with him after a valiant effort not to. Fury's lip twitched and Tony had been laughing from the beginning.

"That's great," Clint says when everyone has calmed down to just randomly chuckling. 

"I never realized how that could be taken out of context!" Tony said, starting to laugh again and restarting the cycle, By the time everyone had stopped laughing the movie was starting again. 

**“What?”**

**“How big are your hands?”**

**“I don’t understand why…”**

**“Get down here. I need you.”**

**Pepper enters his lab after punching in the code to the doors. She is met with the sight of Tony reclining in a chair, shirtless with his arc reactor showing. There are wires connected to him and he is holding another arc reactor in his hand.**

"I wish I could go back and tell myself that that's a bad idea," Tony mutters to himself, unknowingly giving Bruce an ah-ha moment. 

"It's palladium, isn't it?" He says with a clam only from decades of learning to control himself. 

"Yep, that was real fun about a year later." He says, not even a trace of humor showing. 

"Why does it matter?" Steve asks, missing Natasha's wince and Fury's eyelid twitching.

"Because that gives you heavy metal poisoning and-" Clint says without thinking. His eyes widen when he finally understands. "You decided to manipulate and make fun of a guy dying painfully and literally forgetting his life when you had something that could have given him hope all along!" Clint says lightning-fast, turning to Fury and Natasha and giving them the stink eye. He may be a sniper but he has some morals. 

Tony winced and nobody said anything so the movie went on.

**“Hey.” He welcomes from his position. “Let's see them, show me your hands. Let's see them.”**

**Pepper walks towards him and shows him his hand by lifting them both in the air.**

**“Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed.” He said, twirling the reactor in his hands. “I just need your help for a sec.”**

**“Oh my God, is that the thing that’s keeping you alive?” She asked as she glances at the glowing circle in his chest.**

**“It was. It is now an antique.” Tony said. “This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future.” He shows her the one in his hand. “I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump.”**

**“** **_Speed bump_** **, what does that mean?”**

"That's what you meant when you said it was shocking you every couple of seconds?!" Bruce asked, taken aback, "You don't sound like you're being tortured!" he continues, not seeing the grimace from Tony and the flinch from Pepper. 

**“It's nothing. It's just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device.”**

Bruce gasps but says nothing as the movie continues. 

**Tony said as he takes out the current arc reactor. “And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short.” He gasps when it comes loose and Pepper reacts to do something but he quickly says, “It’s fine.” He hands it to her.**

**“What do you want me to do?”**

**“I want you to put it over there. That is irrelevant.”**

**“Oh, my God.” She says as she places it on a table.**

"Oh, my God. I saw how you reacted when Yinsen switched that thing out! You didn't even- But it- UGH Why didn't you tell me I was practically torturing you!" Pepper says, frustrated tears in her eyes. Tony leaned over and put an arm around her shoulder, leaving his place leaning against Bruce.

"I didn't tell you because it was either you removed it and made it feel better or I tried and something went wrong or I let Dum-E have at it, I knew you wouldn't want to if I told you the truth but, it had to be done. I'm sorry that you are the only one I trusted enough at the time to help me." He said softly, wiping away a tear as it fell down her cheek. 

Everyone pointedly pretended that they were seeing it and as soon as the moment was over the TV started up again. 

**“I want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out.”**

**“Is it safe?” Her voice is an octave higher than usual from the nerves.**

"Oh my God, your voice!" Rhodey cried out between chuckles, "I've never heard you sound like that EVER." He said, full out laughing now and bringing Tony with him.

**“Yeah, it should be fine. It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes ‘beep’.” Tony joked.**

Fury chuckled, remembering playing the game with Tony when he was little, Tony blushed a little, remembering it too. 

**“What do you mean, ‘Operation’?”**

"You don't know what Operation is!" Clint asked aghast as if not knowing was on the same level as being a home-wrecker. 

"I do know, Tony got me the game for our first anniversary when it wasn't so raw, I actually really like the game!" Pepper says defensively. 

**“It's just a game, never mind,” Tony said. “Just gently lift the wire. Okay? Great.”**

**“Okay.” She said. Her hand reaches into the metal cylinder in his chest but she hisses before taking it back out. “You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this.”**

**“No, you’re fine.” He said, looking at her intently. “You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great. Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm…”**

**“Okay, okay.” She agrees.**

**“I really need your help here.”**

**“Okay.”**

**She takes a deep breath in before plunging her hand back into the cylinder and the room is filled with sticky noises and she groans, “Oh, there’s pus.”**

The majority of people gagged at seeing her entire hand going into his chest, shocked at how far down it went.

"I thought it was maybe an inch deep! How the hell can you even still breathe with that thing?" Steve asked, never really previously connecting the size of the arc reactor to how far down it would have to be. 

"It's kind of like having childhood asthma that you never quite grow out of, it's definitely not as bad as it could have been," Tony says nonchalantly, suppressing a shudder at the memory of the first couple weeks with the arc reactor. 

Most everyone in the room balks at how seemingly casual he talks about it, except for Bruce, who can feel him tensing up and practically hear the 'Save me" the billionaire is projecting. 

**“It's not pus. It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body.” Tony said, calm for the fact that someone has their hand in his chest and anything might go wrong at any second.**

**“It smells.” Pepper looks seconds away from either throwing up or crying.**

**“Yeah, it does,” Tony said in a teasing voice before his voice turns serious. “The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?”**

**“Okay, I got it, I got it.”**

**“Now, don't let it touch the sides - AH!” Tony yells out when the wire hits the side as Pepper was pulling it out. “When you're coming out!” He finishes.**

Pepper flinches if remembrance, getting a shoulder rub from Tony, and Clint takes a shaky breath. 

**“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”**

**“That's what I was trying to tell you before…” Tony said. The viewer can now see the wire as she has taken a majority of it out. “Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't…There's a magnet at the end of it!” She pulls out the magnet. “That was it. You just pulled it out.”**

**The monitors start to beep in the background.**

**“Oh, God.”**

**“Okay, I was not expecting…” Tony said. “Don’t put it back in.” He gently uses the back of his hand to push her arm away and she places it on the table.**

**“What's wrong?”**

**“Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest 'cause you** ** _yanked it out like a trout_ ** **…”**

"How were you joking around then?! Her hand was literally inside of you-" Natasha puts a hand over Clint's mouth as Wanda finishes speaking, ignorant to what happened. Tony's lip twitched but he tried to look serious as Wanda continued, "-and you were about to have a literal heart attack and you were still trying to make her more comfortable!" She finished, looking contrite and finally understanding that she never had the full story.

"That's just my personality, I can't help it that I make jokes when I panic, it's just who I am." The billionaire in question says quietly, the movie turning on stopping him from adding anything else. 

**“What? You said it was safe!”**

**“Hurry, take this, take this.” Tony hands her new arc reactor.**

**“Tony? It’s going to be okay.” She assures him.**

**“** **_What?_ ** **”**

**“It's gonna be okay.” She repeats, looking him in the eye. “I - I’m going to make this okay.”**

**“Let's hope,” Tony said. “Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you - YAH!” He said as she connects the wires inside his chest. The reactor clicks into place and Pepper still looks panicked. “Was that so hard? That was fun, right? Here, I got it. I got it. Here. Nice.” He says as he properly fastens the object in his chest.**

**“Are you okay?”**

**“Yeah, I feel great. You okay?”**

**“Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again.” The sentence started off happy and jokey but her voice returned to her normal octave and she sounds serious about it.**

**“I don't have anyone but you.”**

**They just look at each other but the moment was too heartfelt that Tony must have felt uncomfortable as he made the what-can-you-do-face at her.**

**“Anyways.” He said as he sat up. He mutters an ‘ow’ as he disconnects the wires at his shoulders before hopping off the seat.**

**“What do you want me to do with this?” Pepper asked. She is holding the old arc reactor.**

**“That?” He takes a moment to look at it. “Destroy it. Incinerate it.”**

**“You don’t want to keep it?”**

**“Pepper, I've been called many things. ‘Nostalgic’ is not one of them.”**

"The word was sentimental but I almost just died right then so I think that I earned it. Nostalgic is a good word, I like that word-" Tony mutters uninterrupted by anyone else, them still reeling from seeing someone they know in so much pain and realizing how well he really is at hiding things.

**“Will that be all, Mr. Stark?” She asked, getting back to business.**

**“That will be all, Miss Potts.” He said before diverting his attention elsewhere. “He, Butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone,**

**that's a picture of me and my dad. Right there. In the garbage. All that stuff.”**

**It wasn’t until the last second does he watch as Pepper walks away - with the old arc reactor in hand.**

"She's up to something," Rhodey says, never realizing that he knows exactly what she was doing with it and not realizing that it was the reason he didn't find Tony dead. Pepper giggles a little hysterically and then Tony joins her, by the end of it they are both laughing and everyone else is looking at them like they are crazy.

* * *

_Two chapters in one day? Who is she? I'm going to start the next chapter then I'm going to bed, it's like 2....._


	6. Manned or Unmanned?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've always wondered if Tony was being serious in that scene or if he was just messing around.

_I'm on a roll! Don't expect it to last but I've been feeling really productive lately..._

_Anyways... I don't own this shit, I'd have bought myself a new computer if I did... Blah- Blah- Blah..._

* * *

**“The future of air combat. Is it manned or unmanned?”**

"I was awful to you then and I'm so sorry that I wasn't there for you like I should have been," Rhodey said, head hanging in shame of his actions.

"It's alright Honeybear, I forgave you for that years ago, even if you didn't know it," Tony says solely to his friend, ignoring everyone else in the room. Rhodey got up and hugged Tony then sat next to him, Pepper moving to the corner seat with Tony sandwiched between Bruce and Rhodey. 

**Rhodey is leading a group of people as he speaks around a few planes inside a warehouse.**

**“I'll tell you, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot's judgment.”**

**“Colonel,” Tony’s voice cuts in. “Why not a pilot without the plane?”**

**“Look who fell out of the sky, Mr. Tony Stark.” Rhodey introduces him as Tony gives a few of them a handshake.**

**“Speaking of manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong at spring break. Just remember that, spring break, 1987. That lovely lady you woke up with.” Tony begins.**

"Oh my God, I almost forgot about him!" Tony says, getting a mischievous look in his eyes and laying over Rhodey as much as he could, getting in his face and getting ready to make a scene. 

"Tony, I swear to God I'm going to convince Jarvis that locking you out of your workshop would be for your own good," Rhodey says calmly, causing Tony to gain an indignant look. 

_"Sir hasn't been eating as often as he should, causing his sleep patterns to fluctuate. It may be in his best interest to take a couple of days to get back into a normalized schedule."_ Jarvis says, perfectly innocent. Tony sits back in betrayal, leaning against Bruce to get away from them and looking hurt. The movie started again and Tony refused to move again. 

**“Don’t do that.” Rhodey tries.**

**“What was his name?” Tony wondered, not looking the least bit sorry. “Was it lvan?”**

**“Don't do that.”**

**“They'll believe it. Don't do that.”**

**“Okay.”**

**“Don't do that.”**

**Tony stopped, annoyed that that seemed to be the only thing Rhodey could say.**

**“Give us a couple of minutes, you guys,” Rhodey said. The group moves away to leave the two friends alone together.**

**Rhodey doesn’t look mad, he even gives Tony a playful punch on the arm and smiles at him.**

**“I’m surprised,” Rhodey said.**

**“Why?”** **  
**

**“I swear, I didn't expect to see you walking around so soon.”**

"Wow," Clint mouths, too shocked at the insinuation to even voice it, several people in the room nodding in agreement causing Rhodey to look back down in shame. 

**“I'm doing a little better than walking.”**

**“Really?”**

**“Yeah.” Tony looks serious and Rhodey picks up on it as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Rhodey, I'm working on something big. I came to talk to you. I want you to be a part of it.”**

**“You're about to make a whole lot of people around here real happy, 'cause that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy,” Rhodey said awkwardly.**

**“This,” Tony extends the word out awkwardly, “is not for the military. I'm not… It's different.”**

**“What? You're a humanitarian now or something?”**

"Ouch," Tony says jokingly, but Bruce and Rhodey could tell that he was still hurt by that, causing Rhodey to wince.

**“I need you to listen to me,” Tony said.**

**“No,” Rhodey said. “What you** **_need_ ** **is time to get your mind right.”**

**Tony just smiled at him, doing an amazing job of hiding the hurt in his voice.**

Natasha and Nick grimaced slightly, seeing how much this rejection was really bothering him. 

**“It’s nice seeing you, Tony,” Rhodey said as he walked away, the smile was wiped off of Tony’s face by that time.**

**“Thanks,” He said quietly, not bothering to hide his feelings now that he was completely alone.**

**Tony is back in the labs in his house in Malibu.**

**He waves his hands over something and makes a hologram come up. It’s a sort of keyboard that his fingers immediately start typing with.**

"You mean to tell me that you had holograms that advanced in 2008 and you never bothered to tell me?" Nick Fury retorted, playfully slighted that he didn't have that good of holograms that early on and again reminded the Genius in Genius, Playboy, Billionaire, Philanthropist wasn't silent. 

"Sorry Uncle Nicky," Tony says, not hiding the laugher in his voice, and shocking everyone in the room by calling him, uncle. 

**“Jarvis, you up?” Tony asked.**

**“For you, sir, always.”**

**“I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark Two,” Tony said to Jarvis.**

**“Shall I store this on the Stark Industries Central Database?”**

**“Actually, I don't know who to trust right now,” Tony said as he clicked a button and another hologram appears over a small table.**

Rhodey winced in shame again.

**The hologram is green and shows the Mark I being disassembled. Tony goes up to it to work. “ 'Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?”**

**“Working on a secret project, are we, sir?” Jarvis asked sarcastically as the Mark I reassembles.**

**Tony doesn’t answer as he tilts the helmet and throwing something away in the holographic trash.**

**“I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands,” Tony said. He turns the hologram around and throws something else in the trash. “Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good.” He spins the hologram around, staring at it intently.**

**The scene changed back to the desert.**

Tony sits up from his place leaning against Bruce, looking at the screen intently, "I never actually saw this part" he says absentmindedly, still focused on the screen. 

**There is a man shoveling at the ground where Tony had fallen. There are many people walking around the site and the viewer can assume they’re part of the terrorist group that had kidnapped Tony.**

**One man picks up the helmet and lifts it to the sky and calls for attention.**

**The bald man, the one that should have died, turns around. He has burn marks on the side of his head and he is wearing goggles to protect him from the sand. The tip of his ear is also burned. The burn marks are red and still bleeding.**

**The man gives the bald man the helmet.**

**The scene changed again to show Tony working hard on a part of his suit. He has his machines helping him but it just gets in the way.**

**"You are a tragedy," He says, finally shoeing it away from his work.**

**The scene changes yet again to show a camera facing Tony to record him.**

"Oh no," Tony says to himself, knowing he was never going to be allowed to live it down if it showed the testing scene and cursing whoever sent this DVD once again. 

**“Okay,” Tony said with two machine parts on his feet. “Let’s do this right.”**

**The camera zooms in to his feet before zooming out a bit to capture his whole body. He is holding something to his hand that the viewer can assume is attached to the machine part to his feet.**

**“Dum-E, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety.” Tony faces the camera which is being held by another bot. “U, roll it.”**

**“Okay. Activate hand controls.” Tony said after planting his feet firmly on the ground.**

**There is a whirling that is getting louder as the seconds tick by. “We're gonna see if** **10% thrust capacity achieves lift. And three, two, one.”**

**He flies backward and hits the ceiling.**

**Dum-E fires the extinguisher at him.**

Everyone starts cracking up, never expecting that sort of reaction from Iron Man. 

**Tony is at the computer again, typing and designing.**

**He uses another hologram to design a bit of the arm and he puts his arm inside it to test it out. There’s a small circle in the center that would be a flight stabilizer.**

**He continues to build the arm bit by hand and he watches as Pepper walks in with a box and a mug.**

**“I’ve been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?” She asked as she walked towards him.**

**“Yeah, everything...** **_What_ ** **?”**

**“Obadiah's upstairs.” She said as she sets the objects on the table. Tony doesn’t stop working on the arm piece.**

**“Great. Great. I'll be right up.” He said. He lifts his arm up and there is a flight stabilizer in the center of his palm, connected by the metal to the rest of the machine.**

**“I thought you said you were done making weapons.” She said.**

**“It is,” Tony said.**

**“This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless.” Tony explained.**

**He fires it. Pepper jumps, he’s blown away from the impact. Pepper covers her ears as things fly off the table.**

**“I didn’t expect that,” Tony said as Pepper glared in the direction of where he is.**

Everyone laughs again, including Tony, "Yeah yeah, laugh it up" he says, breathless from his chuckling. 

**Tony walks up the stairs to a fancy looking room. There is a glass partitioner that looks like there is water flowing around it and there are strange sculptures and painting around the place. There is some piano music playing in the background as he goes over to Obadiah - who is playing the piano. Pepper is sitting on the couch, the windows indicating that it is dark outside.**

"I can't believe I never saw how good he was at setting the scene!" Tony says to himself causing the spies to twitch a little bit, as they had barely even realized it themselves. 

**“How’d it go?” Tony asks. Obadiah just looks at him. “That bad, huh?”**

**“Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad,” Obadiah says as Tony opens up a box and Pepper continues to type away on her laptop.**

**“Uh-huh, sure it doesn’t. Oh boy.” Tony says as he takes a piece for himself.**

**“It would have gone better if you were there.”**

**“You told me to lay low. That's what I've been doing.” Tony says as Obadiah gets off the bench and walks towards them. “I lay low, and you take care of all…”**

**“Hey, come on. In public. The press.” Obadiah sits on the steps nearby. “This was a board of directors meeting.”**

**“This was a board of directors meeting?” Tony asks, a little shock and confusion coloring his voice.**

**“The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress. They're filing an injunction.” Obadiah says, very serious.**

**“A** **_what_ ** **?”**

**“They want to lock you out.”**

**Tony doesn’t look impressed but he also looks like he somewhat expected this bit also didn’t like it. “Why, 'cause the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen.”**

**“Fifty-six and a half.” Pepper corrects, looking up from her laptop.**

"You are so not helping.." Natasha said under her breath, remembering how strained their relationship was when she was Natalie and realizing that was probably it. Pepper winced, realizing how much she had helped Obadiah. 

**“It** ** _doesn’t_** **matter,” Tony says. “** **_We_ ****own the controlling interest in the company.”**

Clint got a look of understanding on his face, now practically caught up with the people who were there and piecing together all the little bits of information he had. Nobody ever realized how smart he was at first glance. 

**“** **_Tony_** **, the board has rights, too,” Obadiah says, sounding stressed. Pepper’s face is unreadable, nothing showing up about how she felt at that moment. The viewer can’t tell if she liked Tony’s decision or not. “They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest.” He is talking slowly as if Tony would break at any second.**

 **“I’m being** **_responsible_ ** **.” Tony flares up. “That's a new direction for me, for the company.” Obadiah just gives him a somewhat forced smile. “I mean, me on the company's behalf,** **being responsible for the way that…” He’s saying this to Pepper as if he needs her validation on the topic. “This is great,” Tony says once he sees that neither of them are on his side of things.**

Tony winced, remembering how alone he felt at that moment. 

**He gets up but Obadiah tries to calm him down, “Oh, come on. Tony.** **_Tony_ ** **.”**

**Tony picks up the box of pizza as Pepper looks back at her work, Obadiah takes a swig of his drink as Tony begins to leave. “I’ll be in the shop,” Tony says, looking to escape from the tense situation.**

Multiple people grimacing at the situation Tony found himself in. 

**“Hey, hey! Hey, Tony. Listen.” Obadiah attempts to catch the billionaire’s attention. He even gets up and touches Tony’s shoulder to stop him from getting away. “I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them. Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs.”**

"It's weird how much he touches you." Wanda comments, not really paying attention to what she's saying and somehow making it all the worst because nobody but Tony really noticed. 

**“No. No, absolutely not.” Tony, his voice is very intense about this.**

**“It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!” Obadiah tries to convince him.**

**“This one stays with me,” Tony says with a sense of finality that gets Obadiah to stop for a moment. His eyes are intense as he makes sure to maintain eye contact with Obadiah who, at several points, avoided his eyes from the determination emanating from it. “This one stays with me.”**

**“All right, well, this stays with me, then.” Obadiah takes the box of pizza. “Go on, here, you can have a piece.” He opens the box for Tony. Tony reaches in for one and Obadiah suggests for him to take two though Tony only takes one. “You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?”**

**“Goodnight, Obie,” Tony says as he jogs down the stairs.**

**The scene shifts back to his workshop, showing off his collection of cars.**

"I want one!" Clint says before Natasha can censor him.

"They got blown up by a terrorist too," The billionaire said to shut down that line of thinking. 

**Tony is once again wearing his technology as he talks to his bots, “Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dum-E is still on fire safety.” He looks at Dum-E he looks back at him. “If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college.”**

"Don't be so mean!" Pepper says, her soft spot for the bot never stopping.

**“All right, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity. And three, two, one.”**

**Tony hovers in the air unsteadily, the glow of the flight stabilizers a radiant white, though he isn’t that far off the ground. Dum-E even lifts his head to watch Tony rise off the ground. Tony’s knees are bent as he moves unsteadily - the viewer can assume this is because he has little control over it. However, he easily lands back on his feet with only a bit of a stumble.**

**“Okay,” Tony says, a bit breathless. He hears Dum-E whirl and turns to face him. “Please don't follow me around with it, either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously.” Dum-E’s head lowers. “Just stand down! If something happens, then come in.”**

"He looked so sad!" Steve comments, thinking about how he could draw it properly and missing the awed stares from Pepper, Tony, and Rhodey for calling Dum-E him. 

**“And again, let's bring it up to 2.5,” Tony says. “Three, two, one.”**

**The sounds coming from the stabilizers are much more violent than last time but Tony has some control as he is still not that far from the ground. It is not like the time he hit himself on the wall.**

**However, he was moving in a random direction and his face screams that this wasn’t what he wanted.**

**“Okay, this is where I don't want to** **_be_ ** **!” He says once he circles around the place and is now near his collection of expensive cars.**

Clint started rocking a bit in his seat, only Natasha hearing his commentary, "Not the cars, not the cars" 

**“** **_Yikes_ ** **,” He says in a very stressed voice as he hovers over the cars to get past them. Papers start flying in the air and he grunts at the sight of it all. He was also heading straight into a wall. He quickly raises his hands in front of him and he looks surprised that he actually stopped.**

**However, he started to move in the opposite direction.**

**Backward.**

**He twists his body around to make sure he could see and he was laughing hysterically, on the verge of crying as he hovered by the papers again. “Could be worse! Could be worse!” He says to himself as he switches directions again.**

**He somehow managed to go back to where he had started, though he was facing the wrong way so he had to turn around again, before landing. He gives himself a little nod for either surviving or to congratulate himself.**

**Dum-E lifts his head again and Tony raises a hand to stop him, “No! AH!” he says in a panic. Dum-E gets the idea before putting his head back down.**

**“Yeah. I can fly.” He nods to himself.**

"You look so proud of yourself." The usually stoic director said with a small smile, causing multiple people to back up on instinct and Tony to smile back. 

**There is a sequence where the machines are helping him put on the new version of the armor, though it has no paint so it is just silver, reflective surface.**

**“Jarvis, you there?” Tony asks as he puts the mask on manually.**

**“At your service, sir,” Jarvis says in that silky, smooth, British accent of his.**

**The viewer can see inside the mask, and a very good headshot of Tony Stark, as holograms start to appear around him. “Engage Heads Up Display.”**

"That's what you see!" Steve replies, thoroughly regretting what he said to the billionaire on the hell carrier. 

"You get used to it eventually, though mine isn't nearly as advanced and I'm very glad for that." War Machine pipes up. 

**“Check,” Jarvis replies.**

**“Import all preferences from the home interface.”**

**“Will do, sir.”**

**Tony looks about the room and little notes appear as he focuses on the cars. The viewer can assume he can do this with any device he needed.**

**“All right, what do you say?” Tony asks Jarvis. He faces the exit and scans it.**

**“I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We're online and ready.”**

**“Can we start the virtual walk-around?”**

**“Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment.”**

**“Do a check on control surfaces.”**

**“As you wish.”The suit starts to hide any bits that shouldn’t be seen like the bits where the wires could be seen. “Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics.”**

"Was that even English?" Clint asked, looking a little shell shocked himself. 

**“** **_Yeah_ ** **. Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check. Start listening in on ground control.”**

**“Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is -” Jarvis sounds a bit panicked at the moment.**

**“** **_Jarvis_ ** **. Sometimes you got to run before you can walk.” Tony interrupts.**

**“Ready? In three, two, one.” Tony says as he gets into position.**

"How are you not dead yet?" Wanda asks deadpan. Getting most everyone to laugh. 

**He lifts off the ground and he leans towards the exit and blasts off. He zooms out the exit with a small ‘oooh’ and flies into the night sky with a ‘yeah’. He’s cheering himself as he sets into the sky like a firework.**

**However, his eyes are** **_really_ ** **wide.**

**“Handles like a dream.” He says to himself about the suit.**

**He flies to the nearest city, their lights golden in the darkness. His suit gives him notes about a Ferris wheel that he flies around. The suit zooms into two kids having ice cream and watching him. One of the kid’s ice cream falls off the cone.**

"Not the ice cream!" Clint says, sad for the kid.

**He zooms in a random direction, accumulating speed, before shooting right up to the sky.**

**“All right, let's see what this thing can do,” Tony says. “What's SR-71's record?”**

**“The altitude record for fixed-wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir,” Jarvis replies.**

**“Records are made to be broken! Come on!”**

**“Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring,” Jarvis says as a warning sign pops up as Tony watches the moon.**

**“Keep going!” Tony ignores Jarvis. “Higher!”**

"You're a fucking idiot!" Pepper says, leaning over Rhodey to smack his head and shocking nearly everyone with her cussing. 

**The suit is slowly freezing over. The eyes’ lights flicker and something near his legs burst. He slows to a stop in the sky before free-falling.**

**“We iced up, Jarvis! Deploy flaps!** **_Jarvis_ ** **!” Tony panics. “Come on, we got to break the ice!”**

**Pieces of his suit start to break apart as he gains momentum through the fall.**

**It isn’t until he’s seconds away from crashing into a road does the suit starts up again and zooms away. Tony screams in happiness as he causes a man to swerve his car.**

**He ends his journey by heading back to his house and descending just outside of it by saying, “Kill power.”**

**He crashes through the floor and into the piano that breaks upon impact.**

**And through the floor again and breaks one of his cars.**

**And causes the car alarms to go off.**

**Dum-E sprays him.**

**Tony’s head just leans back.**

Everyone cracks up one last time before things get serious.

* * *

 _Okie, it's seriously time for me to go to bed and I don't have time to proofread... Hope you like it and feel free to comment on things that you would like to see from me or mistakes that you would like me to fix. Thanks! -Rose_ ****


	7. First Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is nothing like flying the first time.

_Okie, so I'm going to try to get my thoughts up here so everyone understands where I'm at. I really want to write other things, one-shots, and some other topics but, I'm a low-key perfectionist. I feel like I need to finish this story before I can start anything else but, I don't want to rush this story! I want to make this the best I can so, I've decided to go slowly so that this is the best I can get it and something I can be proud of. Sorry for the rant but, I don't own Avengers or anything affiliated with it.. blah blah blah. Let me know if you see any obvious mistakes you'd like me to fix and let me know if there is anything specific you would like to see in this story in the comments._

* * *

**Tony is walking through his workshop with an icepack on his head when he notices a package on one of his tables.**

**He places his mug of coffee down along with the icepack and the viewer can see a post-it note on the package saying FROM PEPPER.**

**Tony takes off the note and neatly unfolds the package with only a few tears.**

**It’s his original arc reactor. It is placed in a glass box and has the words PROOF THAT TONY STARK HAS A HEART around the thing. Tony angles it on the table so he can get a good look at it before his mouth quirks into a small smile.**

"Awwwww- That's so cute, do you smile like that when-" Clint starts, stopping when Natasha discretely threatens to pinch the nerve on his neck that would knock him out. Only Tony noticed and everyone else just thought that he had had second thoughts. 

**The scene shifts back to the terrorists who are trying to understand what they have of the MARK I. They have sheets of paper in their hands that could only be the deciphered blueprints that Tony had made back in the cave. The bald man is smoking a cigarette as he watched people try to remake the suit.**

"That is never going to end well," Nick says, a look in his eyes like he knows from experience. Tony just smiles sadly, remembering a time when Nick would have told him the story as well. 

**The camera zooms into the silver helmet before it fades into another screen with the helmet as a hologram.**

**“Notes. The main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitudes. Hull pressurization is problematic. I'm thinking icing is the probable factor.” Tony says. He has an ice pack taped to his shoulder, the tape was done messily and the pack slightly slipping.**

"No, really?" Bruce asked sarcastically, looking one more bad decision away from literally face-palming. Tony snorted while that pulled a chuckle from the rest of the room. 

**“A very astute observation, sir,” Jarvis says sarcastically. “Perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems.”**

**“Connect to the sys. Co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals. Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure fuselage integrity while maintaining a power-to-weight ratio. Got it?” Tony says, almost in one breath.** ****

"Jesus, was that even English?" Steve asks under his breath, not really for anyone to hear. Tony just burst out laughing, remembering when Steve made basically the same face when he heard Jarvis for the first time.

**“Yes,” Jarvis replied. “Shall I render using proposed specifications?”**

**“Thrill me.”**

**“Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall,” Says the blonde lady on the screen off to the left. “where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society.”**

**Tony leans back in his chair to get a better look at the screen.**

**“Jarvis, we get an invite for that?” Tony asks, looking a bit confused.**

**“I have no record of an invitation, sir.”**

"No even invited to your own party?" Wanda said, gaining back a little equilibrium after the heavy stuff. 

**Tony picks up the helmet, just the front plating of it, and takes a good look at it. The news is still droning on in the background as he flips it around to see the back and puts it on his face. Tony looks at the screen through the faceplate as the news shows an image of the press conference.**

**“Some claim he's suffering from post-traumatic stress,” Tony takes off the mask to look at the screen in shock. “and has been bedridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be,** **no one** **expects an appearance from him tonight.” Tony’s lips quirk in distaste.**

**“The render is complete,” Jarvis says and Tony looks back at the computer screen. It’s the suit, labeled MARK III, but it’s all gold.**

**“A little ostentatious, don't you think?”**

**“What was I thinking? You're usually so discreet.”**

The room cracks out laughing at the AI's sarcasm, taking a while to calm back down.

**Tony looks at the car he had been repairing earlier on in the movie. He sees the red flames and the black as he says, “Tell you what. Throw a little hot-rod red in there.”**

**“Yes, that should help you keep a low profile.” A pause.**

The laughter from before coming back full force, taking even longer to completely stop. 

**“The render is complete.”**

**The suit is a mixture of the gold from before and the flaming red that Tony had requested. The computer allows Tony to see how it looks from all angles, from full body to the left side of the helmet.**

**“Hey, I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it.”**

**“Commencing automated assembly. Estimated completion time is five hours.”**

"That fast... in 2008?" Nick asks, looking insanely jealous of someone who had a lot of practice looking behind masks. Tony saw it, even if he would never mention it. 

"Of course I did. I've always had the best stuff." The billionaire said, projecting smugness he hadn't felt in a long time and didn't even feel pride in getting his real emotions past the spies, they never noticed anyway. 

**“Don’t wait up for me, honey,” Tony tells Jarvis.**

"Of course you're going to go," Natasha said under her breath and Tony politely pretended he didn't hear it. 

**A car is zipping by, leaving every other vehicle in the dust, the sounds of the engine draining out any other sounds. The plate read STARK 4. The car stops by the curb and a man comes quickly to serve him as he gets out of the car in a suit.**

**He walks onto the red carpet and many people look shocked to see him. They try and get his eyes but he nods at them as the camera cuts to Obie.**

**“Weapons manufacturing is only one small part of what Stark Industries is all about, and our partnership with the fire and rescue community…” Obie says to a reporter, obviously trying to put out the fire Tony had started at the press conference.**

"Ugh, I hate that guy," Bruce commented. 

**He was cut off by a lot of squeals that the viewer can guess was caused by Tony Stark.**

**Tony walks as cameras flash at him and people try to grab his attention. A woman asks if Tony remembers her. Tony just said nope and moved on. The woman looks offended. But he does pat a man on the back.**

Bruce snorted at the exchange with the women and Steve put on his 'Captain America is disappointed in you' #2 face. 

**“You look great, Hef,” Tony says, not stopping by to talk as he continues on his stroll.**

**The old man turns around with a pipe in his mouth, two women in his arms, and a smug look on his face. He shakes his head at the commotion as he takes the pipe out of his mouth.**

**Tony walks up to Obie, “What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?” He looks mildly annoyed but mostly amused, nobody but Tony noticing the growing hatred in his eyes.**

"That's not going to end well," Bruce murmured solely to Tony who was practically in his lap by this time. Causing the billionaire to minutely flinch in surprise that somebody had actually noticed then, once he had gotten over the surprise, nuzzled closer. Thanking the scientist in the only way he knew Bruce would absolutely not misinterpret. Bruce understood, nuzzling back in silent acknowledgment before the movie started again. Just before he diverted his attention Tony realized that nobody in the room had noticed the exchange. 

**Obie laughs, “Look at you. Hey, what a surprise.”**

**“I’ll see you inside.” Tony nods at him with a smile, again, fake enough that someone should have noticed. **

**Obie grabs his arm to slow Tony down. “Hey. Listen, take it slow, all right? I think I got the board right where we want them.” He says to Tony.**

"Seriously, what is it with this guy?!" Steve asked, looking like he was willing to go a couple of rounds to get his answers.

**“You got it. Just cabin fever. I'll just be a minute.” Tony brushes him off.**

**“Give me a Scotch. I'm starving.” Tony says to the bartender once he’s inside.**

"That's not how that works." Rhodey leans over Pepper to comment, blatantly ignoring Tony's quickly, deliberately bad, applied indignant look. 

**“Mr. Stark?” A man asks him, getting Tony’s attention.**

"Phil again," Steve commented again, the shifty looks on the spies somehow not noticed by anyone in the room beside Bruce and Tony, but then again, they've always been too alike to hide anything. 

**“Yeah?”**

**“Agent Coulson.” The man replies.**

**“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The guy from the…” Tony appears to struggle for the words, only 2 people knowing that that's not possible due to his eidetic memory.**

Bruce snorts softly at his obvious, to those who were smart enough to understand, manipulation. 

**“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.” Coulson finishes it off for him, not noticing the manipulation.**

"That's what it stands for?" Wanda questioned, looking towards the director for answers, Tony holding in a laugh at the exchange and feeling more than seeing Bruce due the same under him, having migrated completely into his lap. 

**“God, you need a new name for that.”**

**“Yeah, I hear that a lot,” Coulson says with a smile. “Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor in these things. Let's just put something on the books. How about the 24th at 7:00 p.m. at Stark Industries?”**

**Tony doesn’t seem to be paying attention, even though he is, as he seems to be looking at Pepper who is across the room.**

**“Tell you what. You got it. You're absolutely right. Well, I'm going to go to my assistant, and we'll make a date.” Tony’s eyes focused on Coulson but they keep drifting back into Pepper’s general direction, deliberately.**

Bruce lightly squeezed his waist in acknowledgment and silent laughter in his chest felt through Tony's back.

**“You look fantastic! I didn't recognize you.” Tony says as he approached Pepper.**

"Ouch" Natasha jokes, still somehow not seeing the deliberate way that Tony was acting in the movie. 

"Nah, I got over it," Pepper said, oblivious just like everyone else in the room. 

**“What are you doing here?” She asks, more shocked than annoyed.**

**“Just avoiding government agents.” He jokes but the shock wears off her face quickly.**

**“Are you by yourself?”**

**“Yes. Where'd you get that dress?” He asks, looking at the beautiful dress she’s wearing. It’s a dark shade of blue that works with her skin but, he deliberately lets his eyes wander.**

Bruce squeezes Tony's waist again from their place on his hips, apparently making a game of it whenever he sees Tony manipulating someone getting an appreciative nuzzle in return.

**"Oh, it was a birthday present.”**

**“That's great.”**

**“From you, actually.”**

**“Well, I got great taste.” A pause. “You - uhh - you wanna dance?”**

**“Oh, no.” She says, all serious.**

**He doesn’t waste time to convince her as he takes her hand and leads her to the dance floor, she does not look impressed. She smiles politely and abashedly at people as she’s being led away, her face red.**

**Toby brings their bodies close together in a dancing position, both swaying gently to the music in the background.**

**“Am I making you uncomfortable?” Tony asks with carefully calculated intensity getting a nervous laugh from Pepper.**

Bruce kneaded his waist again and the billionaire on his lap nuzzled him again, the pattern continuing and everyone still utterly oblivious to the reason why.

**“No. No. I always forget to wear deodorant and dance with my boss, in front of everyone that I work with, in a dress with no back.” Pepper says, sarcasm leaking through into her voice.**

**“You look great and you smell great.”**

**“Oh, God.”**

**“But I could fire you if that would take the edge off.” He says casually, never losing the calculating gleam.**

Bruce squeezed, Tony nuzzled.

"I feel bad for you," Natasha says to Pepper, seeing her blush from lingering remembrance. 

**“I actually don't think that you could tie your shoes without me.” She smiles at him, sickly sweet.**

**“I'd make it a week. Sure.”**

**“Really?” She asks. “What's your Social Security number?”**

"Seriously?" Bruce asks him quietly, knowing it's not possible for him to not know it and probably realizing where he is going with this. The rest of the room tried to talk at once until everyone was talking among themselves then the movie started again when everyone was quiet again. 

**Tony takes a couple of seconds to 'think' of an answer as Pepper looks mildly smug.**

**“Five.”**

**“Five?” She echoes. “Right.”**

**“Right.” Tony echoes back.**

**“You're missing just a couple of digits there.” She lets out a breathy laugh.**

**“The other eight? So I got you for the other eight.” He says it like it’s nothing, the willy light still in his eye.**

There was scattered laughter around the room. 

**Tony and Pepper silently stare at each other for a few moments before they both break eye contact, Pepper looks down and Tony turns his head to the left, before they continue to look at each other.**

**Most of the tension has left Pepper’s body by now but she’s still rigid and looking around the room as if she thinks someone would mock her or call her out on dancing with her both.**

**“How about a little air?” Tony asks, noticing her discomfort.**

**“Yes, I need some air.” She lets out.**

"You're acting like a nervous schoolboy" Bruce mutters around a soft chuckle, getting a laugh out of Tony.

**She clears her throat as she walks out with Tony, the camera briefly cuts to show Coulson looking over them before cutting to them standing on a balcony.**

**“That was totally weird,” Pepper says, to Tony or to herself.**

**“Totally harmless.”**

**“It was totally** **not** **harmless, by the way.” An edge growing in her voice.**

**“We were dancing. No one was even watching.”**

**“Everybody who I work with…” Pepper continues on, ignoring what he had said. “No, you know why?”**

**“I think you lost objectivity,” Tony said confidently, really over the conversation but not expecting an out. “I think they just... People... We just danced.” He said the last bit quickly as a way to cover up his struggle for the right words to get her to calm down.**

**“No, it was not ju** **st a dance. You don't understand because you're you. And everybody knows exactly who you are and how you are with girls and all of that, which is completely fine. But, you know, then me, you're my boss, and I'm dancing with y** **ou** **.” Pepper says as if she’s been dying to say all of this.**

"She's not fine with that." Clint and Natasha say at the same time as if Tony might care.

**“I don't think it was taken that way,” Tony says, quietly and a 'defensive' look surfacing.**

Bruce lightly pinched the billionaire's side from where Tony was on his lap and Tony lightly kissed his neck in acknowledgment, silently upping the stakes of their game. 

**“Because it makes me look like the one who's trying to…” Pepper says desperately.**

**“I just think you're overstating it.”** ****

**Ignored once again, “You know, and we're here, and then I'm wearing this ridiculous dress, and then we were dancing like that and…”**

**She looks at Tony who hasn’t looked away very much from her since they arrived on the balcony. Her eyes search his face before she leans forward, grabbing the sleeves of his suit to give her leverage, as she brings their faces closer together. It isn’t until she leans back a bit to look at his face does it dawn on her what she had attempted to do.**

**“I would like a drink, please.” She looks like she hasn’t breathed yet.**

**“Got it.” He says to her as she closes her eyes in stress.**

"Oops?" Pepper said in embarrassment, just remembering the incident made her cringe. 

**He walks off the balcony, finally giving Pepper the chance to breathe. She stares off after him, jaw slack and face dusted red.**

**“I would like a vodka martini, please.”**

**“Okay.” Tony’s voice sounds a little off in the distance, crafting the game plan for the rest of the night, as always.**

**“Very dry with olives - a lot of olives. Like, at least three olives.”**

Bruce tightened his grip on Tony's hips and the billionaire nipped his neck in acceptance. 

"Yuck" Wanda says to herself, making her age apparent causing most of the room to laugh, even Fury's lip twitched. 

**Tony marched inside and up to the bar again. "Two martinis, extra dry, extra olives, extra fast," he said. "Make one of them dirty, will you?" He slid a large tip into one of the tip glasses making sure the bartender saw it.**

**A familiar woman in a black dress came up behind the billionaire. "Well, Tony Stark," she said.**

**"Oh, hey," said Tony, turning as she arrived beside him.**

**"Fancy seeing you here," she said, her eyes full of challenge just like before.**

**Tony looked at the woman, his jaw twitching as he groped for her name.**

**"Carrie?" he guessed wrongly, knowing her name but knowing better than to give her any leverage.**

Bruce folded himself more over Tony, making them into a giant pretzel with no space in between them and Tony hummed happily, knowing that that trick was one of his most discrete and glad that his science bro understood him completely. 

**"Christine," she corrected.**

**"That's right," said Tony, as if just remembering.**

**"You have a lot of nerve, showing up here tonight," said Christine.**

**"Can I at least get a reaction from you?" Christine pressed, leaning forward.**

**"Panic," said Tony, confused but not willing to show it. "I would say panic is my -"**

**"Because I was referring to your company's involvement in the latest atrocity," said Christine.**

**"Yeah, they just put my name on the invitation, I don't know what to tell you," said Tony.**

Pepper and Rhodey snorted, not knowing what is going to happen but remembering his bitching about not getting an invite. 

**Her eyes glittered. "I actually almost bought it, hook, line, and sinker," she said, shaking her head as if at her own naivety at believing anything Tony Stark said.**

**Tony's face hardened. "I was out of town for a couple of months, in case you didn't hear," he said.**

**"Is this what you call accountability?" she asked, and she pressed a few printed pictures into his hand. "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"**

**Tony's eyes flickered to Christine's face at the mention of the name. He did not speak, but you could almost see the disbelief, self-loathing, and furious anger in his eyes, all disguising the lingering confusion and the now ice-cold fury.**

"Oh Sweetheart," Bruce said for Tony's ears only, subtly hugging him closer. He supposed it had been a long time coming but just being in Bruce's arms made him happier than he could ever remember being. Tony pressed a kiss to the scientist's cheek in appreciation for the support.

**The photos were of a small, obviously, Middle Eastern village. There was death and devastation all around; there were men he recognized only too well, and there was no mistaking what they were carrying.**

**There was even what looked like a smaller Jericho missile.**

**"When were these taken?" asked Tony in a deceptively quiet voice, effectively hiding his absolute rage.**

**"Yesterday," said Christine.**

**"I didn't approve any shipment," said Tony, looking up.**

**"Well, your company did," said Christine.**

**"Well, I'm not my company," Tony's voice was sightly strained as he strode past Christine toward the door.**

**"Please, do you mind?" asked Obadiah Stane, shooing away eager reporters from the carpeted steps as Tony stood in front of him with fire in his eyes.**

**"Have you seen these pictures?" asked Tony. "Huh? What's going on in -"**

**"Tony, Tony," said Obadiah shaking his head. "You can't afford to be this naive."**

"I told you I didn't like him!" Steve snarled like a feral animal, getting nods of agreement from most in the room that wasn't around for the proceedings. 

**"You know what?" snarled Tony. "I was naive before when they said 'here's the line, we don't cross it, this is how we do business.' If we're double-dealing under the table -"**

"You really had no idea?" Wanda said in disbelief, finally getting it through her thick skull that Tony wasn't single-handedly responsible for her suffering. It brought attention to Tony and some of them did a double-take at him and Bruce but, beyond caring, they both just ignored what was going on on the other side of the couches until Thor moved over to be next to Tony. He squeezed the billionaire's hand, slowly losing the kicked puppy look when said billionaire just squeezed back and didn't further comment. 

**Obadiah put his hands behind his back and looked at the steps.**

**"Are we?" hissed Tony in Obadiah's ear.**

**Obadiah turned to Tony and gave him a long look. "Let's take a picture, come on," he said.**

**Obadiah put his hand on Tony's shoulder and turned him toward the cameras. "Picture time!" he said brightly, and he smiled. Tony did not; his eyes could have blistered the concrete of the steps beneath the carpet.**

**"Tony," murmured Obadiah, smiling down at the cameras. "Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you."**

**"It was the only way I could protect you," added Obadiah, and he squeezed Tony's shoulders before he walked off.**

**Tony stood in silence, watching his partner turned traitor depart. Behind him, Christine wiped the shock off her face, turned, and walked back up the steps.**

The room erupted but mostly Bruce just held Tony close while he closed his eyes remembering the betrayal that was Obadiah Stane. 

"He's dead now, right?" Bruce asked him, ignoring the rest of the room just like Tony was.

"Of course, Tesoro, who do you take me for?" The billionaire replied, letting a bit of his Italian accent color his words, and was rewarded by the darkening arousal in Bruce's eyes.

* * *

_Okie, so, I guess I'm going to try to get a chapter done each week and just post it when it's done but no promises. Now, my favorite characters are Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, James Barnes, Rhodey, Clint, and Thor. I had a bit of an issue keeping my favorites together with the way that this played out but, I'm really happy with the way that this is turning out. Now, I'm keeping Italian Tony because I like him. Period. Also, let me know if you have an intense opinion but, I want to lean into the idea that Bruce and Tony are basically perfect for each other and that they can both be manipulative and good at reading people. I like versions of Tony when he is competent and not just painted as an adult child with only his engineering as his positive trait. Sorry for the rant but, I got the chapter done sooooo_


	8. Back to the Middle East

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony going to Gulmira.... I would have loved a scene where he goes back to the cave that he was kept in.... Anyone else?

_Rose here, ok a couple of things to go over: first, I think only one more chapter after this then it will be done. Second, sorry for the wait, I've been really interested in reading lately rather than writing but I had the urge so here I am... Last I don't own anything and I still live at home obviously this is just a copied movie I don't own anything except the commentary that the characters make but I don't own the characters either... blah blah blah... Anyways onto the chapter._

* * *

**The next shot was of the corner TV in Tony's workshop. The TV showed a news reporter standing in the desert, next to a line of villagers making their way down a difficult-looking ravine carrying what few possessions they had.**

**"The fifteen-mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into hell, into a modern-day Heart of Darkness," the report began. "Simple farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a newfound power. . ."**

**Tony sat and watched, twirling with a screwdriver at some part of the glove of his new red-and-gold Suit. A dark look in his eyes for anyone with half a brain to see.**

**"Villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find - in the ruins of other villages, or here in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting pot."**

"I wondered how the people in the cave spoke so many different languages," Clint mumbled to himself so naturally everyone else in the room heard. 

**The flight stabilizer in the palm of the glove began to glow as Tony watched live footage of armed men making their way through the ruins of a town.**

**"Recent violence has been attributed to a group of foreign fighters referred to by the locals as the Ten Rings," there came an image of none other than Raza himself standing in the doorway of a stone house while local townspeople fled past him. "As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission - a mission that could prove fatal to anyone who stands in their way. . ."**

**When the Jericho missile appeared on the screen, Tony's metal-gloved hand clenched. He stood up.**

**"With no political will or international pressure, there is very little hope for these refugees. . ."**

**Tony walked around behind the couch he'd been sitting on, throwing aside the screwdriver.**

"Uh-oh," Rhodey said, used to Tony's self-destructive moods and seeing the start of one right there. 

**"Around me, a woman begging for news of her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents, either forced to join their militia or -"**

**Tony raised his arm, his palm held out in front of him. He aimed it at the ceiling of the garage and fired.**

Most of the people watching flinched.

**Then he walked out into the middle of the room, in full view of the glass panels.**

**". . .a child's simple question: 'where are my mother and father?' There's very little hope for these refugees - refugees who can only wonder who, if anyone, will help them."**

**Tony gazed into his reflection in the nearest panel. His face twisted with loathing, and he fired at it with a blast that brought down all the glass in pieces. He turned with feline grace and shattered all the other panels. The significance of this could not be missed, seeing as he was blasting his own reflection.**

Bruce held Tony closer, knowing better than anyone how it felt to loath yourself and knowing that saying anything would just sound like pity. Just holding him close and glaring at anyone that was going to say something to Tony about it. 

**But then Tony walked onto the black grid. The grid began to open in pieces around his feet, and up came the boot and leg pieces of the Iron Man Mk II, all red and gold, and fastened over his feet and around his legs. A large yellow bot reached down with the front and back plates, the Arc Reactor glowing as the chest plate slammed down over it, and then came the arms and hands. Last of all came the sides of the helmet, the mask closing over his face and the "eyeholes" glowing. There came a brief glimpse of Tony in the Suit, speeding through the heavens.**

"Holy shit." Fury said to himself, not even bothering to be jealous of the technology after seeing the second version of the suit. 

**And then - Gulmira itself. The villagers were in flight, screams piercing the air as shots rang out around them. Armed men kicked open doors of homes and fired into them. They grabbed all the men who ran past, tearing them from their families, and shoved the women and the children to their comrades.**

**"Hurry it up!" shouted the one who seemed to be Raza's main thug. "Throw the women in the trucks! Stack the weapons here! Clear all the houses!" He pointed. "That one there! Faster! Faster!"**

**A family of four with a small girl and a slightly bigger boy was hustled out of the house that had just been pointed out, all clinging to one another and staring around in terror. One of the children tripped, and all four of them went down. They struggled to get up without breaking apart.**

**"Grab that dog!" shouted the leader, pointing at the father.**

**One of the men grabbed the father as he tried to hurry toward the trucks with his wife and children. The man twisted around in his captor's grip to get a last look back at his family.**

**The boy broke away from his mother and ran toward his father screaming "Papa! Papa!"**

Most everyone that was watching the movie had some horrible memory going through their heads that reminded them of something in the scene, everyone realizing that not everything about Tony's life has been great as if that hadn't already sunk in. 

**The child reached his father and flung his small arms around his neck. The man tried in vain to shoo him away back to his mother and sister.**

**"What the hell is this?" cried the thug. He marched up and grabbed the boy, tossing him to a couple of his men and throwing the father to the ground. There he kicked him roughly, ignoring the frantic screams of the man's wife.**

**"Shoot this dog!" shouted Raza's lead thug in disgust. "You're all incompetent". He stalked away as one of his men grabbed the unfortunate father in preparation to do just that.**

**The children sobbed as their father was forced to his knees and a gun was pointed at him. "Turn your head!" bellowed his would-be executioner. "Turn your head!" He continued shouting, disregarding the mother that turned her own head and pushed the child's into her stomach so that he couldn't see.**

**"Papa!" screamed the boy from his place against his mother's stomach.**

Several people looked vaguely sick at the scene in front of them. 

**A sound like thunder and villagers and attackers alike looked up at the sky to see a red and gold blur flying like a shooting star. Tony landed on his left foot and right knee, and straighten up to face the man who had just been about to shoot the father.**

Everyone in the room let out a collective sigh of relief.

**The man fired at the Suit, which went charging up to him and sent him sailing back into the ruins of a house with a single punch. The billionaire began blasting his hand repulsers at all the Ten Rings men around him one by one. When he turned in the direction of the trucks the men were holding their guns to the heads of the women and the children. They were all shouting at him.**

**Onscreen Tony lowered his outstretched hands, and the rays in them quietly turned dark.**

**Inside the screen of the helmet, JARVIS began identifying all the civilians and the attackers with icons on the screen. Once all the targets had been identified, little rows of miniature missile launchers rose from Tony's shoulders and shot down only the armed men, leaving the women and children completely unharmed.**

**The woman who had nearly seen her husband murdered loosened her hold on her son in her shock, who took advantage and slipped away from her to run to his father and his father embraced him and did not let go. The child looked up as Tony passed by him, clearly on his way somewhere.**

**Crouched behind a wall was the man leading the assault, Raza's thug. He whipped out a phone and began hurriedly typing on it.**

**A red metal fist slammed through the wall beside him, grabbed him, and yanked him back through the hole.**

"Shoot that dog!" Fury said with a disturbing amount of unbridled glee.

**Tony then threw the thug down on the ground in front of the village civilians.**

"Never mind, that is much much better." He reiterated, ignoring the looks of shock pointed at him. 

**Tony lifted himself a few feet into the air. "He's all yours," he said to the townspeople, and then he blasted off into the sky again.**

**The civilians looked down at the thug. He looked up at them. Then the scene changed.**

"Come on" Several people in the room commented, disappointed, causing Tony and Bruce to laugh a little. 

**Tony flew over the mountains nearby, and through his screen identified a hidden Jericho Missile. When he landed at the site he found it was surrounded by tanks. Slowly he pulled himself up and surveyed the area.**

**Then one of the tanks fired at him. He leaned aside, letting the bullet sail harmlessly past. He lifted his arm and fired his own shot. As he turned and walked away, the tank exploded with a fiery bang.**

**There were other men surrounding the Missile. They wasted many shots on the Suit, which propelled itself up into the air again.**

**Then Tony fired at the base of the Missile. It went up in a huge cloud of fire and smoke.**

**A row of trucks with Raza in the passenger's seat of the foremost one rolled up to the site and stopped in dismay. They had just time to glimpse the Suit before Tony vanished into the heavens. And then the scene changed to what could only be a military surveillance screen, with a blinking red dot moving along it.**

**"What the hell was that?" asked a general of the private in front of the screen as the words Edwards Air Force Base, California appeared onscreen. "Were we cleared to go in there?"**

**"No sir," said the private. "They were using human shields, we never got the green light."**

**"Put me through to the State, they're going to be all over this," said a man who seemed to have a measure of authority among the others.**

**"We've got a bogey," said a private into a phone, staring at his screen.**

**"Wasn't Air Force," called a voice.**

**"Get the CIA on the line," said the major.**

**"I've got Langley on the line," called one of the men not in front of a screen. "He wants to know if it's us."**

**"No, it definitely was not us sir," called a private.**

"Of course it wasn't," Tony said with feeling, clearly proving his dislike for all things military and feeling Bruce's nod of agreement on this neck. 

**"It wasn't Navy," said a second private.**

**"Wasn't Marines," added a third.**

**"I need answers," said the major. "Could we please get eyes on the target?"**

**One of the privates brought up the image surrounding the moving red dot.**

"Seriously? That was the military's technology back then?" Tony said, appalled at the lack of anything interesting and getting a chuckle out of most of the military people and Bruce.

"Only you" Bruce whispered to Tony fondly, laughing at the look of disgust on his face. 

**"Get Colonel Rhodes from Weapons Development down here now," said Major Allen.**

**Rhodey came into the intelligence room at the base. "We ran an ID check," he was told. "cross-referenced with all known databases; we have nothing."**

**"Any high-altitude surveillance in the region?" asked Rhodey.**

**"We've got an AWAC and a Global Hawk in the area," said a private.**

**"So this thing just appeared out of nowhere?" asked Rhodey incredulously. "How come it didn't show up on the radar?"**

"Too small" Fury said in acknowledgment, remembering the times that their own tech had failed them similarly. 

**"Got a minimal radar cross-section, sir," said another private.**

**"Is it stealth?" asked Rhodey.**

**"No, sir, it's tiny," said yet another private. "We think it's an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle."**

"UVA my ass!" Tony said in apparent outrage, only Bruce hearing the laughter in his voice. 

**"Colonel, what are we dealing with here?" asked the Major of Rhodey in a low voice.**

**Rhodey's lips pressed together, and he looked down at the table. "Let me make a call," he said.**

**A shrill ringtone sounded inside the helmet of the Suit. "Hello?" said Tony.**

**"Tony," said Rhodey.**

**"Who is this?" came Tony's voice over the phone.**

"At least now you understand that I literally couldn't hear you," Tony said snidely, still salty about the military going after him. 

"Ok, you need to get over that eventually," Rhodey said, his wince only barely apparent to anyone other than Tony and Bruce.

**"It's Rhodes," said that individual grimly.**

**"Sorry, hello?" said Tony.**

**"I said, it's Rhodes," said he, and on Tony's screen, his picture appeared surrounded by his name, title, and credentials.**

**"Speak up, please," said onscreen Tony.**

**"What the hell is that noise?" demanded Rhodey, covering his other ear.**

**"Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down," said Tony. He sounded a little winded.**

"Jesus, you're a horrible liar," Natasha said, Clint, agreeing with her.

Bruce squeezed the billionaire in his lap, chuckling against Tony's neck at the obliviousness of the 'best spy the Black Widow Program has to offer'.

**"Yeah, well I need your help right now," said Rhodey, looking up at the screen.**

**"Funny how that works, huh?" snarked Tony.**

**"Yeah, speaking of funny," said Rhodes. "We've got a weapons depot that was blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive."**

**"Well, that's a, uh, that's a hotspot," came Tony's slightly breathless voice through the phone. "Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you."**

**"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" demanded Rhodes.**

**"I'm not, I was just jogging in the canyon," said Tony.**

Bruce started laughing again at the deliberately horrible lie, not even bothering to hide it this time causing everyone in the room to look at him like he was crazy or join in thinking that he was laughing at Tony's horrible lying skills.

**"I thought you were driving," said Rhodes.**

**"Right, I was driving, uh, to the canyon, where I'm going to jog," said onscreen Tony.**

**"You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?" asked Rhodey, his eyes once again fastened on the big screen.**

**"Nope!" said Tony cheerfully.**

**"Bogey spotted!" called one of the privates, and an only somewhat indistinct image of the Suit appeared on the screen.**

**"Whiplash, come in hot," said the major.**

**"Okay, good," said Rhodey. "Cause I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come."**

"I love the reaction to blow up the thing that you don't understand," Tony said in a faux cheerful voice, getting several eye rolls.

**Behind the Suit, two planes came sailing up, their flights level with Tony's.**

**"Ah, that's my exit!" said onscreen Tony, and he must have hung up at that moment. The Suit rolled to the side, one of the planes twisted around to follow him, and the chase began.**

**"Ballroom, this is Whiplash One," reported the pilot of one of the planes as he closed in on the Suit. "I have the bogey in my sights."**

**"Whiplash One, what is it?" asked Rhodes into his headset.**

**"I've got no idea," said the pilot.**

**"You've got radio contact?" asked Major Allen.**

**"None responsive, sir," said the pilot.**

"Yeah, that wasn't until the next suit. You're lucky that one had Jarvis integrated enough to get calls." Iron Man said, looking lady to fight anyone who brought up the lack of communicational tech. 

**"Then you are clear to engage," said the Colonel.**

**In the air, Tony took a moment to take a look behind him. "Hit it," he said.**

**The Suit instantly went into a supersonic mode.**

"Jesus, Mark II was already going supersonic?" Nick said in admiration with a whistle, acknowledging that they never would have been able to recreate it the way that SHIELD wanted to. 

**"Bogey just went supersonic," said the Whiplash One Pilot. "I've got a lock!" And he fired.**

**"Inbound missile," said JARVIS inside Tony's helmet.**

**"Flare!" puffed onscreen Tony, and out came a burst of fire behind him.**

**"Bogey deployed flares," said the Whiplash One Pilot.**

**Tony fell a few dozen feet before the Suit picked back up. The two planes followed him. One of the planes got Tony in its viewfinder again, and at once began to fire shots at it. The shots grazed the metal of the Suit.**

**"Deploy flaps!" cried onscreen Tony, and the Suit halted completely as the two planes shot past it.**

**"Holy -" spluttered the Whiplash One pilot.**

**"Thing just jumped off the radar, sir," said a private back at the base, staring at his screen. "The sat visual has been lost."**

**"No way that's a UAV," said the Whiplash Two pilot dryly, looking all around for the "bogey."**

"Really? You got that now?" Tony remarked even dryer than the pilot. Pulling a couple of chuckles out of the majority of the room. 

**"What is it?" asked the Colonel.**

**"I can't see anything!" said the pilot. "Whatever it was, it just bought the farm. I think bogey has been handled, sir."**

"Bought that farm?" Wanda said in confusion, her English not up for the metaphor.

"It basically means it's been terminated," Rhodey said, understanding that it made less than zero sense. 

**Onscreen Rhodes stared at the lost visual. He shook his head slightly. Then his cell phone rang. The caller ID showed a picture of Tony called the Starkster. Rhodey glanced around, picked up his phone, and flipped it open. "Hello?"**

**"Hi, Rhodey, it's me," panted Tony.**

**"It's who?" asked Rhodes.**

**"I'm sorry - it is me," said Tony. "What you're asking about is me."**

**"No, see, this isn't a game," said Rhodey sternly. "You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone, you understand that?"**

**"It's not a piece of equipment," shouted Tony. "I'm in it, it's a suit. It's me!"**

**Rhodey opened his mouth to speak, and looked back up at the screen.**

**"Rhodey, you got anything for me?" asked the Major.**

**Rhodes looked up blankly, pulling the phone down from his ear.**

"My God, how did they not see that you clearly new something with a face like that?" Natasha asked, getting nods of agreement around the room. 

**The military planes were in the act of turning around to go back home when something appeared on the underside of one of them. The Whiplash One pilot leaned forward to look. It was the Suit.**

**"On your belly," said Whiplash One to Whiplash Two. "It looks like a . . . man!"**

**Rhodey gaped in subtle amazement as the Suit came into view on the camera.**

**"Shake him off!" cried the Major to Whiplash Two. "Roll! Roll!"**

**The pilot twisted his joystick, and the plane rolled through the air. The billionaire lost hold before long and went hurtling through the air with no thrusters on. He crashed into the wing of Whiplash One, which broke completely off. The Suit did indeed seem substantially unhurt, but Whiplash One was not so lucky.**

Most of the people in the room winced at the blatant property damage. 

**"I'm hit! I'm hit!" cried the pilot.**

"You hit me asshole!" Tony uttered in outrage, lightening the steadily darkening mood. 

**The plane spun out of control, smoke streaming from the place where the wing had once been.**

**"Punchout! Punchout!" cried the Colonel.**

**The pilot reached down for the yellow handle and yanked on it, shooting up out of the plane just in time before it blew completely to smithereens. Still bolted to his chair, the pilot fell through the sky.**

"Where is the parachute?" Steve asked confused.

"You mean you know what a parachute is?" Tony asked sarcastically getting everyone to laugh and Steve to blush. 

**"Whiplash One, down," came the report.**

**"Whiplash Two, do you see a chute?" asked the Colonel.**

**"Negative - no chute, no chute!" cried the pilot in alarm. The unlucky Whiplash One pilot was still on the radio, his breathing obviously panicked as he tugged on the handle of his chute.**

**"My chute's jammed!" he cried.**

**Tony dived down after the falling man.**

"Do you know how far up you are?" Bruce idly asked, unsurprised that Tony would try to save the pilot.

"Nope, but it worked out so whatever." The man in his lap responded unconcerned getting several looks from the people around him.

**"Sir, I've got a visual on the bogey," said Whiplash Two.**

**"Re-engage," said the Major. "If you get a clear shot, you take it!"**

**"Major," said Rhodey. "We don't even know what we're shooting at. Call off the Raptors."**

"Like that was ever going to work" Pepper sniffed in disdain for the pitiful attempt, causing several people to look at her in shock and Rhodey and Tony to wince.

"What?" The fiery red-head snapped when she saw everyone looking at her. Everyone made an effort to look away and the movie started again. 

**"That thing just took out an F-22 in a legal no-fly zone," snapped the Major. "Whiplash Two, if you have a clear shot, take it!"**

"Again, it hit me!" The billionaire said annoyed at how much military stuff he was being subjected to. Getting a quiet guffaw from the man under him. 

**"You've been re-engaged," said JARVIS inside the helmet. "Execute evasive maneuver."**

**Tony just ignored him and said, "Keep going!" The suit caught up with the falling pilot, reached for the parachute handle, and blew the compartment open. The parachute opened with a flap.**

**"Good chute! Good chute!" gasped the pilot in relief, and a cheer went up in the California base and in the lounge.**

**Tony twisted and dived, avoiding the path of the remaining plane.**

**Rhodey took a few steps to the side and picked up his phone again. "Tony, you still there?"**

**"Hey, thanks!" said Tony cheerfully, nobody even noticed that it was fake.**

**"Oh my God, you crazy son of a bitch!" said Rhodey with a gasp of a laugh. "You owe me a plane, you know that, right?"**

"Again-" Tony started, stopping when Bruce put a hand over his face and just shook his head. Mostly everyone in the room laughing at the scene and the pouting face Tony had when Bruce took away his hand. 

**Tony was also laughing. "Yeah, well, technically he hit me," he said. "So, now you going to come by and see what I'm working on?"**

**"No! No, no, no, no," protested Rhodey. "The less I know, the better. Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?"**

**"Uh, training exercise," said Tony. "Isn't that the usual BS?"**

**"It's not that simple," said Rhodey.**

**The next moment, Rhodey was standing at an outdoor podium in full uniform. "An unfortunate training exercise (Bruce raised his eyebrows at the real Rhodey) involving an F-22 Raptor occurred yesterday," he said. "I am pleased to report that the pilot was not injured. . ."**

Every single person burst out laughing and Rhodey just blushed, barely noticeable with his dark skin tone but still visible. 

**Obadiah Stane sat on a leather couch in pajamas and a bathrobe, watching on TV as Rhodey spoke. "As for the events on the ground in Gulmira, it is still unclear who or what intervened, but I can assure you that the United States Government was not involved." Obadiah frowned.**

"I still don't like him" Steve sulked like a literal child getting Tony to laugh even harder. 

**Pepper made her way down the stairs to the workshop in time to hear Tony say "Hey! Ow! Ah-ah-ah-ow!"**

**"It is a tight fit, sir," said the voice of Jarvis.**

**"Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt," reminded Jarvis, tone of voice saying it's not the first time he's said it.**

Clint burst out laughing, most of the room following at the innuendos that could be made out of that. Steve could be seen trying to keep him Captain America is disappointed in you face #4 but it was ruined by his face getting progressively redder as he tried to keep himself from laughing. 

**"Be gentle, it's my first time," wheezed onscreen Tony. "I designed this to come off, so - ow, hey! - I really should be able - ah -"**

The hysterics returning with a vengeance. 

**"Please try not to move," JARVIS repeated**

The laughter started up again, worse than before.

**Pepper got to the bottom of the steps and stood gaping through the place where the glass panes had once been.**

**"What's going on here?" asked Pepper.**

**Tony's head turned at the sound of her voice. The arms of the bot paused.**

**"Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing," said Tony.**

Before anyone got a chance to react Wanda literally fully body cringed at the pair's thought.

"Oh my god! Stop projecting!" Wanda squealed like a child that found their parents having sex.

"How does one stop projecting?" Tony asks mildly, amused and furious battling for control in his eyes but not in his voice.

"Just stop thinking about those things so hard! Nobody has ever projected something that strong at me with literally no warning!" Wanda said, still occasionally twitching at the thoughts in their heads.

"Like that?" Tony asked, a slight look of concentration on his face, Bruce being the only person who noticed that he was treating it like an experiment.

"Exactly... Thank you!" She said, looking beyond relieved.

"So you're not going to tell us what it was?" Clint asked, looking disappointed and flinching automatically when Natasha raised her hand. She was only trying to cover her mouth to stop from laughing but seeing the flinch just made her crack up. It was like a bubble popped and everyone just started cracking up. Under the cover of laughter, Tony leaned back into Bruce and put his face into the crook of his neck.

"She can't read your mind just casually if you're focusing really hard on something else. I focussed hard on the last experiment that we were doing and she instantly calmed down."

Bruce just slowly nodded against the billionaire's neck and then the movie started again. 

**Pepper's eyes widened as she took in the pieces of the Suit. "Are those bullet holes?" she asked. It was a night in Afghanistan, and into the new Ten Rings camp, a row of black SUVs came rolling up. Raza approached the foremost one with a couple of guards beside him. Obadiah Stane stepped out of the back seat of the car, flanked by men of his own. Obadiah walked up to Raza. His eyes appraised the state of the camp.**

**"Welcome," said Raza.**

**Obadiah's eyes flickered to the side of Raza's head.**

**"Compliments of Tony Stark," said Raza, pointing to the damage.**

"Nice one baby," Bruce whispered into Tony's hair getting a gentle kiss to the neck in exchange.

**Obadiah's smile was wry. "Well, if you'd killed him when you were supposed to, you'd still have a face," he said.**

**Raza was clearly not happy. "You paid us trinkets to kill a prince," he said.**

**But Obadiah merely said, "Show me the weapon."**

**"Come," said Raza. "Leave your guards outside."**

**Obadiah held up his hand to the men behind him and followed Raza. As the two leaders left, the guards stared each other down, clearly ready to go to blows if anything went wrong. Obadiah stepped into a tent, and at once his eye fell upon the reconstituted Mk I.**

**"His escape bore unexpected fruit," said Raza, coming in behind Obadiah and going around to a table at the side of the tent.**

**"So this is how he did it," said Obadiah, folding his arms as he walked forward to examine it more closely.**

**"This is only a first crude effort," said Raza looking around (no one argued that point). "Stark has perfected his design. He has made a masterpiece of death. A man with a dozen of these could rule all of Asia."**

"You've gotta dream big, you know." Clint snidely commented getting chuckles and breaking some of the tension in the room. 

**He looked shrewdly at the American. "And you dream of Stark's throne."**

**Obadiah, who had been pacing around the Suit all the while, turned and looked back at Raza, for once his face no giving any of his thoughts away to someone who doesn't know him at least.**

**"We have a common enemy," said Raza, coming forward and seating himself in a chair. "We're still in business," he added. Obadiah was examining the circular hole in the middle of the chest of the Suit.**

**"I will give you his designs as a gift," said Raza, pouring some drink into a cup. "And in return, I hope you'll repay me with a gift of iron soldiers."And he held out the cup to Obadiah.**

**Obadiah smiled and walked up to Raza. He put his hand on the back of Raza's shoulder, and there was a shrill, metallic, buzzing whine. Something bright blue glowed in each of his ears. A small object which had been hidden in his hand shone a red light at the back of Raza's head.**

"That one was not my best moment" Tony muttered to Bruce, letting him know in one sentence that he made it and that it was rejected by the military. They both noticed how interested the Director was and Tony mental note to check all his firewalls later. 

**Raza's body stiffened. His olive skin paled visibly, and a network of spidery blue veins appeared on the side of his head and neck. He tried to move, his reddening eyes darting in panic, and at last, looking up into Obadiah's still smiling face.**

"Holy shit, what is that?" Steve asked alarmed.

"It uses sound to paralyze someone for about 15 minutes," Tony explained, Bruce hearing the condescension clearly but everyone else never noticing. Several people winced at that but the spies started to think of all the different uses for it.

**Then Obadiah spoke, and the words on the screen translated them into English: "This is the only gift you shall receive."**

**"Technology," said Obadiah in English, straightening and folding down the little device and taking the cup from Raza's frozen hand as he sat unmoving in the chair. "It's always been your Achilles' heel in this part of the world." He pocketed the device and removed the blue things from his ears. "Don't worry," he added as Raza stared at him. "It'll only last for fifteen minutes." He passed his hand over Raza's head as he walked by. "That's the least of your problems."**

**Obadiah strode out of the tent. "Crate up the armor and the rest of it," he said to his guards as he walked to his SUV. "All right, let's finish up here. "There was a noise of machine guns going off as he got into the car.**

"So that's why the Ten Rings never bothered me again..." Tony muttered, loud enough that everyone in the room could hear it but it was clear he was thinking about it and not really paying attention to what was coming out of his mouth.

"Maybe that's because you burned the first batch alive," Bruce said gently, like explaining death to a toddler.

"Yeah, I can see that" The billionaire in his lap pondered, pretending not to notice the baffled looks on the rest of the team's face.

**In the back seat of the car, Obadiah was on his cell phone. "Set up Sector 16 underneath the Arc Reactor," he said. 'I'm going to want this data masked. Recruit our top engineers. I want a prototype right away."**

"Friend Tony, how is it that he could use your blacksmiths and thinks you won't notice?" Thor asked from his place beside Tony and Bruce, quieter than anyone but Tony had ever heard him talk.

"It's because he paid them all off and he was relying on the fact that he had never seen me take an interest in the company," Tony said back just to Thor, everyone else having to strain to hear him. Thor just nodded and gently bumped their shoulders together in a show of solidarity.

**Pepper swung the door of the workshop open to find Tony once again at work on the Mk III.**

**"Hey," he said as soon as he saw her. "You busy? Mind if I send you on an errand?"**

**Pepper's hands were on her hips as she walked up to one of Tony's work surfaces.**

Both Pepper and Tony winced, both wondering why this is relevant and hoping it skips the bulk of it.

**"I need you to go to my office," Tony went on. "You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests." He had walked over to the tabletop and now picked up a small jump drive, which he handed to Pepper. "It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they've put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading."**

**Pepper looked sharply at Tony. He had now walked away and was in front of his desktop computer, scrutinizing the design. "And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?" she asked.**

**"Same drill," said Tony. "They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."**

**"Tony," said Pepper, and she laughed without mirth. "you know that I would help you with anything, but -" Her face hardened. "- I cannot help you if you are going to start all of this again."**

"Why is that where you draw the line? He's been a weapons manufacturer for as long as you've known him but when he tries to stop making weapons you object? Wow," Clint said with a glare at Pepper, nodding at Tony's grateful smile before going back to glaring at Pepper.

"I thought that he had PTSD and paranoia and probably wasn't fit to go on this crusade," Pepper said with feeling, shrinking under the weight of the glares on her from around the room. 

"I had PTSD but I was never paranoid and you never even cared. I just thought you didn't want to be in the middle of it but really?" The billionaire said, feeling disgusted in himself for never noticing how much she was treating him like a toddler. Nobody looked at Pepper as the movie continued, ignoring her blatant sadness rightly assuming that it was just another manipulation.

**"There is nothing except this," said Tony. "There is no art opening, there is no benefit, there is nothing to sign." He turned to her, and his face was grim. "There is the next mission, and nothing else."**

Bruce nipped at Tony's neck again, bringing back their old game and pointing out the fact that he was giving a Captain America style speech to show her his side of the story. Tony laughed under his breath and gently knocked heads with Bruce in appreciation. 

**"That so?" said onscreen Pepper, looking keenly into his face. "Well then, I quit." She threw the jump drive down on the table, and she turned and walked away.**

"Wow," Clint mouthed with feeling, getting nods of agreement all around and Pepper just blank-faced.

**"You stood by my side all those years while I reaped the benefits of destruction," said Tony, making her stop and turn around in the doorway. "And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?"**

"He's not wrong," Natasha said, finally seeing Pepper for her true colors on her stance in the superhero business.

**"You're going to kill yourself, Tony," said Pepper. "I'm not going to be a part of it."**

**"I shouldn't be alive," Tony muttered, turning away from Pepper and sitting down. "Unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do." He looked back at her, his eyes full of conviction. "And I know in my heart that it's right."**

"Not the soulful eyes" Rhodey murmured with apprehension and the tone of someone who has been on the other end of them before. 

**Pepper was still staring at him. She blew out her breath in a long sigh. Then, after a moment, she came back to the table and picked up the jump drive. "You're all I have too, you know," she said.**

**Tony looked away and already was looking for another way to do this if Pepper didn't manage it, thinking that she was already gone and slowly letting his walls down in the peace of his lab.**

**The scene changed to a set of elevator doors opened, and Pepper stepped out of them. She looked cautiously around as she walked. All three of the assistant's offices were empty. Pepper pushed open the door to Tony's office, slipped inside, and shut it behind her. Pepper cast an uneasy glance over her shoulder as she walked to the desk (which was of course in the middle of the room right in front of the door) and sat down in front of the computer. She brushed the mouse, and the screen saver disappeared. A Stark Industries logo appeared on the screen, followed by a login and password box.**

**Pepper pulled the jump drive out of her purse and plugged it into the USB port.**

**A red warning box with the words "Warning: Security Breach" appeared momentarily on the screen, blinking and blaring quietly.**

"What?" Steve said, not knowing how drives work and thinking that it messed up.

"Everything is alright," Bruce said in his calming voice, instantly getting everyone to calm down.

**Then a box with lines of code appeared on the side, and in a moment the red box turned green and the words "Access Granted" replaced the warning.**

**The jump drive brought Pepper straight to a ghost drive, just as Tony had predicted, and she clicked the latest file. It opened, and a pile of shipping manifest documents flashed onto the screen in quick succession. The next file back yielded much the same results. But the file after that brought up a number of images of the Mk I with the words "Sector 16" on top of them.**

**"Sector 16?" murmured Pepper. "What are you up to, Obadiah?"**

**But the next file was even more damning. It was a video. Tony was slumped in a chair, surrounded by men with the Ten Rings insignia hanging behind them, half a dozen guns trained on him. A voice was speaking, and the words were not in English except for the name "Tony Stark."**

"Oh, sweetheart" Bruce cooed gently, getting another look at Tony in captivity and hugging him closer in comfort, having felt Tony start shaking a little bit at the reminder. Tony put his head into the crook of the scientist's neck and just focused on breathing. Letting the calming presence of the man soak in and pushing into the hand going through his hair.

**Pepper clicked a box and typed "TRANSLATE" into it.**

**"You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark," came the translated words. "As you can see, Obadiah Stane, your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up."**

"So, he screwed them over as well," Tony said into Bruce's neck with vindictive pleasure.

**Pepper started copying the files, all of them, onto the jump drive at once.**

**"So!" said a voice.**

**Pepper started and looked up. There was Obadiah Stane standing in the doorway.**

"Oh no," Almost everyone in the room said, sitting closely on the edge of their seats except for Bruce, Tony, and Pepper.

"You never said that he caught you at his desk!" Rhodey said scandalized, making several people laugh despite the serious topic.

**"What are we going to do about this?" asked Obadiah as Pepper sat in front of the computer, files copying away.**

**Pepper watched as Obadiah walked to a small side table on which sat a glass bottle with whiskey in it and a few drinking glasses. He picked one up and poured himself a drink.**

**"I know what you're going through, Pepper," said Obadiah, his eyes on Pepper as she glanced back at the screen. "Ah, Tony!" He picked up the bottle and sniffed it. "He always gets the good stuff, doesn't he?"**

"Of course I do" Tony sniffed in disdain causing Bruce to laugh from under him.

**Pepper just smiled and nodded, and when Obadiah looked down for a moment she picked up the paper, which was lying beside the computer, and slid the edge over the jump drive.**

"Can you be more obvious?" Natasha muttered, surprising several people because she was so quiet everyone almost forgot that she was there.

 **Obadiah poured a second glass, picked it up, and came around the desk.** **Pepper's hand was on the mouse. The last of the files copied. She hovered the mouse over the top of the screen and clicked "Screen Saver" as Obadiah came and stood behind her.**

"That was wayyyyy too close," Clint said, having lots of practice with close calls made the severity of the situation worse.

**"I was so happy when he came home," said Obadiah, standing so close to Pepper that he was almost touching her. "It was like we got him back from the dead." He moved around and sat down on the desk beside her. "Now I realize - well - Tony never really did come home, did he?"**

"He's trying to use your PTSD to manipulate her?" Bruce murmured into Tony's ear around a laugh getting the billionaire in his lap to chuckle with him. Nobody else even noticed the exchange.

**"He left a part of himself in that cave." Obadiah's eyes flickered to the screen saver. "Breaks my heart."**

**"Well," said Pepper as he looked back up at her. "He's a complicated person."**

"He's not wrong about that," Rhodey remarked with feeling.

**Obadiah took a sip from his glass.**

**"He's been through a lot," Pepper went on. "I think he'll be all right."**

"Seriously, get out of there." Natasha and Wanda said at the same time, causing them both to laugh.

**Obadiah looked over the woman in front of the computer. "You," he said. "are a very rare woman. Tony doesn't know how lucky he is."**

"So that didn't work and he's going to flirt with you now?" Clint commented for the room to hear before laughing at the irony when he remembered what Natasha's role was when she was Tony's assistant.

**Pepper looked down and tried to smile bashfully. "Thank you," she said. "Thanks. I'd better get back there." She got up, taking the paper and unplugging the jump drive in the process, and walked toward the door.**

"Good," Natasha said quietly.

**"Is that today's paper?" asked Obadiah, pulling Pepper up short.**

"Or not," The second half of the spy twins said.

**"D'you mind?" asked Obadiah, coming up to her.**

**"Not at all," said Pepper, handing it back to him. Her hand curled as he took it.**

**"Puzzle," he said, matching her smile.**

**"Of course," said Pepper, and she turned and walked through the open door.**

**"Take care," said Obadiah as she left.**

**She looked back briefly at him standing in the middle of the office. She glanced down at the jump drive in her hand as she went.**

"You couldn't wait until you were at least in the elevator to check?" Natasha asked, nearly silent with shock at the amateur move and getting several people to laugh at the blatant shock on her face.

**As soon as she was out of sight, Obadiah slammed the paper down on his desk and brushed his hand over the mouse. The screen saver vanished and up came the desktop with a box in the middle. The box showed the number 100, and the words "Download Complete."**

"Well, there goes the discretion," Steve said.

**Obadiah ran his hands over his head and practically leaped to his feet.**

**Pepper made her way down the stairs, clutching her purse.**

**"Ms. Potts?" said a voice from in front of her.**

"Phil!" Steve said, still nobody that wasn't looking for it noticed the spy's shifty behavior.

**"We had an appointment," said Coulson as she came clicking up to him. "Did you forget about our appointment?"**

**"Nope, right now," said Pepper. "Come with me."**

**"Right now?" said Coulson, getting up.**

**"We're going to have it right now," said onscreen Pepper. "Yep, walk with me."**

**"Okay," said Coulson, suddenly finding himself nearly running to keep up with her. He wasn't exactly small but Pepper had very long legs.**

"Poor Agent," Tony said, taller than him but still knowing the feeling of having to keep up with Pepper.

**Pepper glanced up and behind her. "I'll give you the meeting of your life," she said as she and the SHIELD agent passed out of view. "Your office."**

**Behind and above them, Obadiah Stane stood watching, knowing that he couldn't get to her without making a scene.**

**Next moment Obadiah Stane strode into what could only be Sector 16. A group of men in white lab coats were hovering around a station on the bottom of the great Arc Reactor, one of them on the phone. "Yeah, we've been working our best to do it," he said. "Absolutely, and we're -" The door slammed and he looked up to see Obadiah walking up. "I'm going to have to call you back," he said and hung up the phone.**

"He had an entire team working on it?" Bruce mocked to Tony, them laughing together about it.

**All the assistants fled, leaving the one who'd been talking on the phone to face Obadiah. "Ah, Mr. Stane, sir," he said. "Ah, we've explored what you've asked us to, and it seems as though there's a little hiccup - actually, ah -"**

**"Hiccup?" asked Obadiah, looming dangerously over the unfortunate man.**

"That's not going to end well for him" Fury commented idly, knowing Obadiah's type.

**"Yes, to power the Suit," said the man. "Sir, the technology actually doesn't exist, so it's -"**

**"Wait, wait, wait, the technology?" Obadiah's arm went around the smaller man's shoulders and his head came down till his face was about an inch away from the other's. "William here is the technology," he said, gesturing with his other arm to the Arc Reactor in front of them. "I've asked you to simply make it smaller."**

"No way!" Tony shouted in disbelief, not believing that Obadiah thought that it was that simple. Bruce just cuddled him against his chest letting him listen to his heartbeat until he had calmed down.

**"Okay, sir, and that's what we're trying to do," said William as Obadiah straightened up and gave him a moment's reprieve.**

**Obadiah came just short of strangling the man. "TONY STARK WAS ABLE TO BUILD THIS IN A CAVE!" he thundered, poking William's chest with his finger. "WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!"**

"My little genius," Rhodey said in a fond tone, getting everyone to laugh in the intense moment.

**"Well, I'm sorry," said William. "but I'm not Tony Stark."**

"Damn straight," Tony said with relish.

**Tony walked into his lounge just as his cell phone rang. He looked around, and then picked it up. It was Pepper.**

**He flipped open the phone and put it to his ear. "Tony?" cam Pepper's voice through it, and at the same instant a high, buzzing whine sounded in the room as a small device appeared beside his head.**

The lights flickered and everyone was confused except for Bruce and Tony.

"I'm ok now Jarvis, none of that was ever your fault," Tony said soothingly, having seen the AI blaming himself before.

"I'm still sorry, sir." The smooth British voice in the ceiling responds.

**Obadiah pulled the phone out of Tony's hand and hung it up. He eased Tony's head onto the back of the couch. "Breathe," he crooned. "Easy, easy."**

**Tony's reddening eyes followed Obadiah's hand as he tried to keep breathing. Obadiah held up the little device before his eyes. "You remember this one, right?" he said as he clicked it off. "It's a shame the government didn't approve. There are so many applications for causing short-term paralysis."**

"I'm sure that I can help you with that," Bruce said, a little bit of a growl in his voice and green in his eyes. Tony just nuzzled into his neck from his place in his lap, running a hand through Bruce's curly hair until they were both calm again.

**Obadiah got up and came round the couch. He pulled Tony's head around so that he was looking straight up into his face. "Ah, Tony," he said as he began to pull the little blue plugs from his ears. "When I, ah, ordered the hit on you -" Tony's eyes widened even further while Obadiah briefly leaned aside and reached into a bag for a tool. "I worried that I was killing the golden goose."**

"Oh, you fucker" Steve said, getting several reflexive "Language" 's back.

**Obadiah put the tool over Tony's shirt where the Arc Reactor clearly glowed through the fabric. "But you see, it was just fate that you survived then."He punched the handle, and the tool poked through Tony's shirt straight to the Arc Reactor underneath. Tony gasped and choked as the Arc Reactor was pulled from its socket.**

Bruce wound his arms around Tony's waist so that his hands were covering his entire rib cage, making him feel safe and causing him to lean against Bruce and letting him take all of the strain.

**"You had one last golden egg to give," said Obadiah, his face lit up in the Arc Reactor's glow. He leaned forward over Tony, the short cable dangling into the socket.**

Everyone in the room was silent and on the edge of their seats waiting to see how it would end.

**"Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you?" asked Obadiah. "Your father - he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?"**

"Oh my god Howard, what did you do?" Steve asked himself and his dead friend, not noticing Tony's piercing gaze on him besides a slight discomfort and the feeling of being watched.

**Then, with a jerk, Obadiah yanked the cable up, the magnet dangling at the end of it.**

"Oh shit," Bruce said, causing everyone else to scoot a little bit away from him but Tony just picked up his hand and put it up to his shirt so that it was resting on the arc reactor, showing extreme trust and warmth of it calming Bruce down. Nobody missed the display of trust and they looked away, feeling like they were intruding on an intimate moment.

**The thief held up the glowing marvel before the eyes of its creator. "Oh, it's beautiful!" breathed Obadiah, turning it over in his hand. "Oh, Tony - this is your Ninth Symphony." He sat down beside Tony, still holding the Arc Reactor aloft. "Oh, what a masterpiece!" he said. "Look at that! This is your legacy! A new generation of weapons, with this at its heart!"**

Thor had lightning in his eyes he was so mad but Tony just held his hand with the one not on Bruce's hand across his waist. 

**Tony choked and gasped, blood leaking from the ear visible on the screen, his body clearly fighting to keep him alive.**

Tony was blank-faced but Bruce and Thor could feel his slight shaking, causing them both to move closer in comfort, their touch, and tactility making Tony feel safe.

**"Weapons that will help steer the world back on course," continued Obadiah, his face so close to Tony's that Wanda could feel the remembered breath on Tony's face. "Put the balance of power in our hands - the right hands."**

**Obadiah leaned over and stowed the Arc Reactor away in a small case. "I wish you could see my prototype," he said, smiling down at the genius. "It's not as. . . conservative. . .as yours. Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this. I would've preferred that she lived. . ."**

**Tony's eyes slid over toward the older man as he got up and walked away, his black case held in his left hand.**

Tony could tell that nobody could understand how he made it out of this one alive, except Bruce who he had already told everything.

**The next shot briefly showed a street somewhere in Malibu, and then Rhodey driving with a cell phone to his ear. "What do you mean, he paid to have Tony killed?" he asked. "Pepper, slow down. Why would Obadi - okay, where is Tony now?"**

"Hurry hurry hurry" Was the mantra running through Steve's head, invested in the movie and hoping that their teammate was ok and almost entirely forgetting that he was sitting across from him.

**"I don't know, he's not answering his phone," said Pepper worriedly. She was walking out of a SHIELD building flanked by about half a dozen agents, Coulson at their head. "Please go over there and make sure everything's okay. Thank you, Rhodey."**

**She touched her earpiece and addressed Coulson. "I know a shortcut," she said.**

"That won't be short enough," Tony said in a factual tone, enjoying that he had shocked several people with his voice.

**Rhodey swerved sharply and drove off for Tony's house.**

**The scene changed and it was on Tony, desperately clinging to life, flinging himself into an elevator.**

"Damn Stark, I really didn't see that one coming," Fury said, only managing to hide most of the awe in his voice. 

**Tony slid slowly down the wall of the elevator as it carried him down. When the door opened, he steadied himself against the edge as he hauled himself over the threshold, every move clearly a terrible effort.**

"Dear God Tony!" Steve said, aghast at what his teammate had been through.

**Tony pushed himself forward, and his hand just managed to push open the door to the garage.**

**There it sat on his desk: Pepper's gift to him, the old Arc Reactor. It was painfully far away, but it was there.**

"You really are a genius," Bruce said, correctly assuming that that was the only reason he kept the present. Tony just shifted himself so that he could rub their noses together briefly before settling back down with a small chuckle. 

**Tony fell to the floor and began to crawl. Bit by bit, he made his way to the table on which sat the Arc Reactor.**

"Anthony Edward St-" Rhodey started before being cut off by Bruce's glare.

"You are not his mother or his caretaker and you certainly don't get to yell at him because you felt guilty that you have never been there when he needed you." The man said with green in his eyes and a zero bullshit face on causing most of the people to wince hearing the truth of it and Tony to smile up at Bruce in gratitude, breaking down Rhodey's resolve even more.

**And then came the sound of a peculiar little whine, and down came a robotic arm with the Arc Reactor in its claw.**

"Dum-E?" Bruce chuckled, glad for the robot in ways that he had never been before.

**Tony reached up for the case and looked up at Dum-E, who gave a little concerned click.**

**"Good boy," said Tony, and he dashed the case against the floor.**

"Well, that was intense.." Clint commented getting several people to laugh in different versions of hysteria.

* * *

_I have been writing off and on basically all day to get this done and I haven't edited it so sorry, not sorry... Hope you enjoyed it and let me know if there are any obvious mistake you would like changed blah blah blah._


	9. Icing Problem?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've always wondered what suddenly made Obadiah snap, like were the stocks increasingly good that year or did his patience for dealing with Tony disappear or what.

_Okie, last chapter.... hopefully... I really hope that I've done well with this story and, I'm going to be moving to other avenues. Message/comment or whatever if there is any specific pairing or prompt you would like to see from me!_

_I don't own anything please don't sue me.... thanks._

* * *

**Obadiah Stane sat before a Suit which did not seem to be the Mk I, the Arc Reactor in his hand as he gazed up at the towering Suit. After a few seconds he got up, and went up to his Suit, you couldn't really see much but you knew what it was. There, connected to the cable to the center socket, he pushed the recently stolen heart inside. It went in with a click, and there was a mighty rumbling in answer from the Suit. Obadiah gazed up at the Suit once more, and he smiled.**

"That's not a creepy smile.... at all...." Clint said beyond sarcastic, getting laughs out of the majority of the room. 

**Rhodey burst into the lounge. "Tony?" he called. "Tony? Tony!"**

**Rhodey tore down the stairs and into the workshop, and there lay Tony on the floor, doubled over next to the shattered glass.**

**"Tony!" cried Rhodey in alarm, rushing over to him and turning him gently over. "Tony, you okay?"**

**Tony's color was already better, not by much, and the Arc Reactor gleamed in its socket as he gripped Rhodey's arm. "Where's Pepper?" he rasped.**

**"She's fine," said Rhodey. "She's with five agents, they're about to arrest Obadiah."**

**"That's not going to be enough," said Tony grimly.**

Bruce held the man in his lap closer, sensing that what happens next still affects him. 

**A silver car followed by a line of black cars pulled up in the No Parking zone of the Stark Industries Factory. Pepper and Coulson climbed out of the first car, followed by all the other SHIELD agents. Pepper keyed them inside, and in they went in double file.**

**"Section 16," said Pepper as the agents followed her around the large Arc Reactor. "Section 16 - there it is."**

**Pepper went straight up to a yellow door with the words "Section 16" painted in black letters on the lock the words "Authorized Technicians Only" painted under the window in red letters. She swiped her key, but aside from a soft beep, nothing happened. She swiped again, with the same result.**

Bruce snorted into Tony's neck, letting him silently know that he thought she was ridiculous to not realize Obadiah would code her out. 

**Pepper turned around in frustration. "My key's not working," she said. "It's not opening the door - oh!" For Coulson had held out his hand behind him and an agent had placed something in it.**

**"Wow! What's that?" said Pepper. "It's like a little device - it's like a thing that's going to pick the lock?"**

All the spies chuckled, knowing that it was Phil's favorite piece of SHIELD technology, the two scientists already mentally reverse engineering it.

**Coulson had placed the thing on the lock of the door. "You might want to take a few steps back," he said as it began to beep.**

"That's the 'something is about to explode' sound," Tony said, his sage delivery getting laugher out of everyone, even the Director. 

**Pepper, Coulson, and the rest of the agents all retreated from the door a few paces and waited. Almost immediately there was a small explosion, and the door fell open.** **Obadiah looked up at the noise, and turned to the Suit, hopping across an aisle to reach it.**

**Inside his workshop, Tony was putting on his own Suit with Rhodey looking on in wonder. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen," he said.**

**"Not bad, huh?" Tony asked rhetorically, and then, presumably to JARVIS, "Let's do it."**

**He aimed a ray from his hand at the nearest of his cars, the one he'd crushed in the fall after his first flight, and sent it flying away from him.**

**Satisfied, Tony turned back to Rhodey.**

**"You need me to do anything else?" asked Rhodey.**

**Tony's mask went down. "Keep the skies clear," he said, and then he powered up the flight rays and zoomed up through the holes in the ceilings and into the night sky.**

**"Damn!" said Rhodey, staring up after Tony, and then he turned to look at the Mk II, unpainted but still impressive-looking. "Next time, baby!" he said, and he swung himself into one of Tony's cars and sped away.**

"Before he 'stole' my suit while I was days away from dying of heavy metal poisoning." Tony snidely commented, still slightly bitter at how easy it was to manipulate Rhodey into betraying him. He made his voice project on purpose, letting everyone in the room listen in but giving the impression that they weren't meant to. Rhodey colored slightly under his dark skin then the movie went on.

**Phil Coulson's face appeared at a window in a door, the other four SHIELD agents following behind with Pepper. He swung the door open, drew a pistol, and went inside very quietly. The others behind him followed suit.**

**They were in what must be the heart of Obadiah's workshop, for it was quite dark and there were big tubes and pipes and railings and warning signs everywhere. Pepper was looking around anxiously as they went. Then they rounded a bend and came upon the reconstituted Mk 1.**

**"Looks like you were right," said Coulson. "He was building a Suit."**

**"I thought it'd be bigger," said Pepper, and she looked up at a quiet buzzing noise behind her.**

"Famous last words," Bruce said without thinking, the tone of someone who knows. 

**Two cables that hung from the ceiling had obviously been recently disconnected from something and were still buzzing.**

**The agents split up. Coulson took one agent and they vaulted over the railing next to them to go one way; another agent passed by a computer screen which showed various dangerous-looking upgrades to the Mk I Suit. Coulson and the agent with him continued to make their way forward. Pepper was alone. She seemed to be following a trail of dangling still-buzzing cables, and she'd come to what was almost a curtain of chains that dangled from the ceiling. Pepper started around at a slight noise behind her, but as it was very dark back behind the chains she couldn't see much of anything. She stepped forward to look more closely.**

**There was a clang.**

**A mask lit up at the eyes.**

"That is never good," Nick said under his breath. 

**Something rose up, towering at a colossal height; the viewers only had a brief glimpse of it. The glowing eyeholes of the mask saw Pepper, a target marked in red, who screamed and ran. As Pepper came tearing around the corner and the agents turned, they saw it.**

**The Suit was massive, easily ten feet high, and it swept aside anyone that stood in its path. The agents fired uselessly, but of course, could not damage the thing. Pepper was running for her life through the sector, the great Suit charging after her. An enormous metal claw of a hand lunged forward for her, and just barely missed her.**

"That looks familiar," Thor teases Tony from his spot sitting next to him, referencing when the billionaire flew for the first time. Getting a burst of surprised laugher from the man in question.

**Tony flew through the sky.**

**"How do you think Mk I's chest piece is going to hold up?" asked Tony of JARVIS.**

**"The Suit is at forty-eight percent power and failing, sir," said JARVIS. "That chest piece was never designed for sustained flight."**

Thor and Bruce reflectively moved closer to the genius, as if they could protect him from the reality that he had already lived through. 

**"Keep me posted," said Tony as he sped through the air.**

**"Pepper?" came Tony's voice on Pepper's cell phone as she ran out of the Stark Industries factory.**

**"Tony!" she cried. "Tony, are you okay?"**

**"I'm fine!" said Tony.**

**"Obadiah, he - he's gone insane!" said Pepper, pausing to talk to him. "He built a Suit-"**

**"I know, listen, you'd better get out of there - get out of there right now!"**

**But the pavement behind Pepper began to suddenly move and swell upward till it cracked and broke, and up from a hole in the asphalt rose the Suit, the gigantic Iron Monger. It stepped out from the hole and towered over Pepper.**

**"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Obadiah, his voice amplified and slightly distorted by the Suit.**

**Pepper backed away with a scream as Obadiah lifted an arm. "Your services are no longer required!" he said, and a barrel of enormous rounds on top of the arm began to spin.**

Natasha was on the edge of her seat, legitimately worried for the friend that she made when she was lying to everyone she knew and spying on Tony.

**"STANE!"**

"Oh thank God," Steve said under his breath. 

**At the last possible moment, Tony's red-and-gold Mk III had come barreling down out of the heavens and sailed directly into the Iron Monger. Too big and slow and heavy to react in time, the Iron Monger was knocked backward out of Stark Industries grounds and onto the busy thoroughfare outside. Tony sailed into the side of a truck, but Obadiah landed on the street in the middle of an intersection. Cars swerved to avoid the beast of terror, but Obadiah grabbed a car and threw it over his shoulder as it tried to pass.**

**The other cars began slamming into each other as they skidded away from the chaos, but one minivan with a woman and her children inside it came to a screeching halt right in front of the Iron Monger. They screamed in terror as their mother slammed on the brakes. Obadiah clanked to his feet and grabbed the minivan, lifting it into the air above his head.**

**"I love this Suit!" cried Obadiah as he turned toward Tony, the minivan full of screaming children dangling from his grasp.**

"That motherfucking, arrogant, physco-" Clint started, almost getting himself into a conniption over it. It popped the tension in the room and gave everyone a good laugh. 

**"Put them down!" Tony demanded.**

**"Collateral damage, Tony," said Obadiah, stamping forward.**

"Collateral damage my ass" Clint starts again, getting more laughter and joining them before he could really get started up again. 

**"Divert power to chest RT," Tony commanded JARVIS, lowering his hands.**

**The chest piece took a moment to power up before throwing out a blast that sent the Iron Monger flying backward and made him let go of the minivan. Tony caught the minivan, but his Suit was not as bulky as Obadiah's. He stood wobbling under the weight of the car as he tried to hold it up.**

"Oh no," Pepper said, remembering the moment all over again.

**"Power reduced to nineteen percent," said JARVIS as Tony struggled to hold up the minivan.**

**Tony sank to one knee. The woman slammed on the gas, and the minivan came down on the ground with a thud. It took off down the highway as Tony clung to the hood.**

**"Lady!" shouted Tony in protest as he began to slide down the hood. "No, no, no, no, no -" The minivan rolled over him as he slid down to the ground.**

Thor laughed uproariously, everyone looked at him like he was crazy but he was stuck in a memory of something similar Loki had done. 

**"Ugh!" grunted Tony as he lifted the back wheels to keep from being crushed. Then he rolled over as he let go, and the minivan sped safely away.**

**Obadiah was charging up the street toward Tony with a roar and a jump that took him another teen feet into the air. Just as he reached Tony, a motorcyclist came zooming in between them. Obadiah grabbed the motorcycle and sent Tony flying backward with it. A nearby bus had skidded to the side of the road, and now its doors opened and frantic passengers began climbing out of it and running away, many of them screaming.**

**Obadiah ran forward and grabbed Tony, flinging him high into the air. "For thirty years I've been holding you up!" he bellowed. Then he threw Tony back down on the ground and stamped on him with his huge right foot. "I built this company from nothing!" He reached down to pick Tony up with his hand, or claw, again. "Nothing's going to stand in my way!" He hurled Tony into the bus right through the side, which thankfully was now empty. "Least of all you!"**

Bruce gave Tony a comforting kiss on the neck as they continued to watch the movie. 

**A large projectile opened from the shoulder of the Iron Monger and aimed itself straight at the ruined bus. It fired an explosive into the bus, which went up in flames with a bang. The force of the explosion sent Tony sailing up into the air again, and as he came down his flight repulsors came to life. He went from falling to hovering upright in the air in a moment.**

**"Impressive!" cried Obadiah with a laugh. "You've upgraded your armor! I've made some upgrades of my own!"**

Several people in the room winced, not wanting to imagine what he could have done. 

**And then the Iron Monger lifted off the ground and began to ascend through the air, its flight repulsors using as much force as a small spaceship and letting off about as much smoke.**

**"Sir," said JARVIS. "It appears that his Suit can fly."**

"Does it really?" Clint asked completely deadpan, breaking some of the heavy tension. 

**"Duly noted," said Tony. "Take me to maximum altitude."**

**"With only fifteen percent power, the odds of reaching that altitude -"**

**"I know the math!" snapped Tony, looking down as the Iron Monger approached him. "Do it!"**

**And JARVIS obeyed. The Mk III took off toward the clouds while the Iron Monger flew up in pursuit after it. From the lot of the SI factory, Pepper watched worriedly. For a moment there was a shot of the Iron Monger chasing the Mk II, followed by a view of a military surveillance screen.**

"That's never good," Bruce said with relish, getting a wince out of Rhodey and Steve.

**"Sir, you're not going to believe this," said the young private sitting in front of the screen. "That thing is back!"**

**"Get me, Major Allen," said his superior. "Scramble the jets."**

**The private picked up the phone by his desk, but a hand came down and prevented him. "Not necessary, people," said Rhodey, looking around the room. "Just a training exercise."**

"Training exercise, huh?" Tony asked Rhodey with laughter in his voice. 

**"Yes, sir," mumbled the young man, staring up at the Colonel and putting down the phone.**

"Could you be more obvious?" Wanda asked with a cackle, understanding exactly what the guy's facial expression meant. 

**Tony sailed up, away from Obadiah, and for a moment it looked as if he might really be getting away. But then the Iron Monger sped up, and for all its bulk began to give real chase.**

**"Thirteen percent power, sir," said JARVIS.**

**"Climb!" barked Tony.**

**"Eleven percent," said JARVIS.**

**"Keep going!" said Tony.**

"In hindsight, the countdown made everything worse," Tony said to the room at large, getting some nervous laughter from the people still caught in the moment of the movie.

**As the Iron Monger pursued the Mk III, everyone could now see the layer of ice forming on it. In fact, nearly the whole Suit was iced over already; only the helmet was relatively ice-free. This was far better, for it meant that the Iron Monger would give out soon, but unless it was very soon Tony was sure to run out of power.**

**The Arc Reactor in the middle of the Mk III began to flicker. "Seven percent," said JARVIS.**

**"Just leave it on the screen," said Tony. "Stop telling me."**

**And then Obadiah reached out and grabbed Tony's foot, yanking him down so that Tony's helmet was on a level with his own. He wrapped his other hand around the neck of the Mk III.**

Pepper gasped, never having seen what had happened clearly.

**"You had a great idea, Tony!" bellowed Obadiah as his helmet crusted with ice. "But my Suit is more advanced in every way!"**

**Tony said, "Yeah? How'd you solve the icing problem?"**

"Sick burn dude," Clint said, purposefully acting like a douchebag, getting several more laughs. 

**"Icing problem?" asked Obadiah as the lights inside his helmet suddenly began to flicker before going out entirely.**

**"Might want to look into it," said Tony, and he knocked on the top of the helmet with the back of his hand. The Iron Monger began to fall, and great indeed was that fall.**

**Tony hovered where he was, watching the fall of the Iron Monger until JARVIS said "Two percent," and the Suit started spluttering and falling short distances at a time as the flight repulsors went in and out. "We are now running on emergency backup power."**

**"Whoa!" said Tony as he went down. He managed to land safely on the roof of his factory, falling onto his knees as he did. He climbed to his feet and said, "Potts?"**

**"Tony!" cried Pepper with a gasp. "Oh, my God, are - are you okay?"**

**"I'm almost out of power," said Tony, peeling off one glove of the Mk III as he spoke and lifting the visor of his helmet. "I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there -"**

"Never let your guard down that fast!" Bruce said in reprimand, giving Tony a light slap to the head. 

**But a great clanking thud behind him put a stop to that as the Iron Monger appeared seemingly out of nowhere.**

"I never saw that coming," Bruce said sarcastically, only calm because he had his hand resting on the arc reactor underneath Tony's shirt, feeling the physical proof of his health in the mechanical pulses. 

**"Nice try!" said Obadiah as Tony whirled around, mask flying back down.**

**Obadiah aimed a punch at Tony's head. Tony ducked, and flung out his right hand - but his right hand was bare. He glanced at it, distracted just for a moment, and Obadiah dealt him a blow that sent him spinning back through the air. Tony landed on hands and knees a few feet away, jumped up, and made a flying leap at Obadiah, punching him with his left hand, the one he hadn't taken the glove off of. Obadiah caught him by the arm and then grabbed him around the middle of the Suit with both hands. With a growl, he began to squeeze.**

**"Weapons status," choked Tony as the plates of metal began bending and twisting and little pieces of the Suit popped out behind him.**

**"Repulsors offline, missiles offline," said JARVIS.**

Everyone was on the edge of their seat, seeming to forget that Tony was fine, tension at an all-time high and Tony quickly read the room and realized that a joke wouldn't fix it. 

**Obadiah smiled inside the helmet as the claws of his Suit slowly destroyed the Mk III.**

**"Flares!" cried Tony, and though there was not enough power left for a real spurt of fire, there was enough to send a series of sparks at the Iron Monger that made him Obadiah drop Tony as he tried to right his helmet.**

**"Very clever, Tony," said Obadiah to that individual.**

Bruce grimaced at the praise, knowing that Tony would have felt that like a punch to the gut. 

**Tony, who seemed to have somehow got around a corner while Obadiah wasn't looking, peered cautiously around it as Obadiah clanked around the roof. His screen was cracked but still appeared to be functioning.**

**"Potts?" he said again, more quietly this time so Obadiah wouldn't hear him.**

**"Tony!" cried, Pepper.**

**"This isn't working," whispered Tony. "We're going to have to overload the Reactor and blast the roof."**

"Oh my god, you genius idiot," Bruce said, praising and chastising him at the same time. 

**"Well, how are you going to do that?" asked Pepper.**

**"You're going to do it," said Tony. "Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the bypass button, it's going to fry everything up here."**

**"Okay," said Pepper, carefully making her way back into the factory, the floor of which was showered with glass her three-inch pumps clicking as she walked. "I'm going in now."**

**"Make sure you wait until I'm clear of the roof," said Tony. "I'll buy you some time." And he ducked out of sight as Obadiah came his way.**

"Oh my god, that's going to take so long," Natasha said, remembering the schematic for the arc reactor from when she was in SI. She got some surprised looks but Tony mostly just ignored the fact that she thought she had gotten one over him. 

**Inside the factory, Pepper pulled down switch after switch.**

Clint and Wanda both tried to stifle their laughter, it reminded them of the video game that they had been playing before this. 

**Tony managed to jump up on the back of the Iron Monger. Obadiah growled and tried to turn, but he was too late. Tony, clinging to the neck of the Iron Monger, had just got a glimpse of something in the base of its helmet that JARVIS brought up for a closer look. The words "Weak Point Located" appeared next to the icon.**

**"This looks important!" said Tony triumphantly, and he gripped the thing with his bare hand and yanked it out. The Iron Monger's helmet sputtered threateningly, looking like it was about to go out again.**

**Pepper pushed a row of square, glowing buttons one by one. Obadiah tried to reach behind his head for Tony, twisting from side to side. He succeeded before long, and threw Tony right onto the glass panes that were directly above the middle of the large Arc Reactor below.**

**Pepper twisted a row of dials.**

**Up on the roof, the chest pieces of the Iron Monger folded back and its helmet opened to allow Obadiah's head to emerge.**

**"I never had a taste for this sort of thing," said Obadiah, looking down at the Mk III helmet that the viewers had not before noticed he was holding. "But I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the Suit!" He crumbled the helmet to a twisted lump of metal and threw it next to Tony.**

**Tony raised his head to look up at Obadiah.**

**"You finally outdid yourself, Tony!" said Obadiah as the Iron Monger clanked forward. "You made your father proud!"**

"Don't bring Howard into it you asshole!" Steve said, protecting his dead friend and caring less than nothing that everyone heard. Tony flinched from his place in Bruce's lap but hid it well enough that only Thor and Bruce noticed. 

**Tony climbed to his feet, no doubt ready to begin another assault, but at that moment Pepper pushed the last buttons and flipped open the cover of a large red one.**

**"It's ready, Tony," she said. "Get off the roof!" Tony heard her through the crumpled helmet next to him.**

**Obadiah smiled at Tony and began shooting out all the glass around Tony's feet. Tony held up his arm, but nothing in it was working. He started to fall as the glass under his feet broke, and he clung to the metal bars for dear life.**

Most of the room gasped, some more obvious than most, the combined stress at an all-time high.

**Pepper screamed as a shower of glass came down on her, for she was now directly under the spot to which Tony was hanging.**

**Obadiah continued to shoot out all the glass, sending another rain of shards down on the unfortunate Pepper. She looked up and saw Tony dangling many feet above her.**

**"Tony!" she screamed.**

**"How ironic, Tony!" cried Obadiah. "Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!"**

Tony winced into Bruce's neck, still remembering how he felt when he said that, Bruce petting his hair in comfort. 

**"Pepper!" bellowed Tony, his eyes fixed on his enemy.**

**"And now," said Obadiah. "I'm going to kill you with it!"**

**Obadiah lifted his arm and shot a small missile that exploded at the side of the roof, pretty far from Tony.**

**"You ripped out my targeting system," said Obadiah, taking another step forward.**

**"Time to hit the button!" shouted Tony down at Pepper.**

**"You told me not to!" wailed Pepper.**

"That will fry your reactor too..... Oh honey" Bruce thinks out loud from his place in Tony's neck, shocked by how low Tony really was. Stroking along his back and just breathing with him, the interaction going unnoticed by everyone but Thor.

**"Hold still, you little prick," said Obadiah, lifting his arm again. This time the missile bit off a piece of the roof behind Tony with somewhat better aim, but not much.**

Tony snorted at the choice of word.

**"Just do it!" shouted Tony.**

**"You'll die!" yelled Pepper, scandalized.**

Tony laughs again, finding it much more fun without the life or death situation it accompanied. 

**Obadiah took aim again, missing again but the explosion caused Tony to lose hold with his bare hand. "Push it!" he shouted.**

Bruce winced preemptively, holding Tony tighter to his chest as he watched. 

**Pepper punched the button and raced away from the station as the Reactor came to life and filled the room with charges that could have individually powered a house each. Then it sent a blast of power up to the roof which blasted Tony aside and struck the Iron Monger's smaller Reactor. Obadiah gave a cry as the resulting shock sent a bolt of electricity into the heavens, causing a streak of lightning and a clap of thunder. But Obadiah was dead before the Suit even began to fall, clanking its way down through the factory into the great Arc Reactor. There was a burst of flame that nearly caught Tony as he rolled away from the hole in the roof.**

**Then, slowly, the air cleared. Tony lay unmoving, the Arc Reactor flickering feebly. "Tony!" came the voice of Pepper, and whether it was an echo of memory or really her voice no one could tell.**

**The Arc Reactor went out, and the screen went dark.**

There was an oppressive silence going through the room, nobody really considering the fact that this isn't really happening right now. Tony considered reminding them but figured that they would figure everything out soon enough. 

**On the screen of a television, a press conference was being streamed live. Rhodey was standing at the podium, the same one from which Tony had delivered his fateful company turnaround statement after Afghanistan.**

**"You've all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night," Rhodey was saying. "There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the Reactor. Fortunately, a member of Tony Stark's personal staff. . ."**

**But the view was now moving outward, and the viewers could see that the television was behind a couch where Tony was currently sitting reading a newspaper and being attended to by Pepper. The headline ran, Who is the Iron Man? and there was a picture of Tony's Mk III that somebody had taken during the street fight the night before.**

Most everyone let out an audible sigh of relief, even Fury, greatly amusing Tony and by extension Thor and Bruce. 

**"Iron Man," said Tony experimentally. "That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean, it's not technically accurate, the Suit's a gold-titanium al-loy -" he winced as Pepper pulled a bandage off the bridge of his nose. "- but it's kind of evocative - the imagery, anyway."**

**"Here's your alibi," said Phil Coulson, who was standing nearby, and he handed Tony a set of blue cards.**

**"Okay," Tony said as he took them.**

**"You were on your yacht," said Coulson.**

**"Yeah," said Tony absently as he read the cards.**

"You have a yacht?" Clint asked, scandalized by the thought that Tony had been holding out on him, before wincing and remembering everything that had happened. Nobody laughed that time. 

**"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night," said Coulson. "and sworn statements from fifty of your guests."**

"You work fast," Wanda said in mild surprise, used to Hydra's way of doing things.

**"See," said Tony. "I was thinking maybe we could say it was just, ah, just Pepper and me alone on the island." He looked impishly up at Pepper.**

**Pepper pulled another bandage rather severely, with a smile that said "don't you even think about it", and began applying makeup to cover the scars.**

**"That's what happened," said Coulson.**

**"All right," said Tony, looking back down at the cards.**

**"Just read it word for word," said Coulson.**

**Tony frowned. "There's nothing about Stane here."**

"How did you think that was going to work? He was prominent and he can't just disappear without any warning." Steve asked in a rare moment of insight. Most everyone just ignored him, wanting to see how everything played out in the end. 

**"That's being handled," said Coulson. "He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record."**

**"But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard?" Tony was clearly done with everything. "I mean, that's kind of flimsy, don't you think?"**

**"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark," said Coulson. "Just stick to the official statement and soon this will all be behind you."**

**Pepper finished making Tony up and smoothed her hair behind her ear.**

**"You've got ninety seconds," said Coulson, and he turned to go.**

**Pepper hurried after him and stopped him at the door. "Oh, Agent Coulson," she said. "I just wanted to say, thank you very much for all of your help."**

**"That's what we do," said Coulson. "You'll be hearing from us."**

**"From the Strategic Homeland Interven-" began Pepper arching her eyebrows.**

**"Just call us SHIELD," said Coulson, and for a moment his impassive smile seemed more genuine as he turned and walked away.**

**"Right!" said Pepper, and she trotted over to pick up Tony's suit-jacket. "Let's get this show on the road."**

**"You know, actually, it's not that bad," said Tony, getting up. "Even I don't think I'm Iron Man."**

**"You're not Iron Man," said Pepper, helping Tony into the jacket.**

"Ouch," Natasha said with a lighthearted tone that bellied the look in her eyes. 

**"Am so!" said Tony, gripping the cards between his teeth as he got his arms into the sleeves.**

**"You're not!" said Pepper.**

**"All right, suit yourself," said Tony. "You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this girlfriend who knew my true identity- she'd be a wreck, 'cause she'd always be worrying that I was going to die," he pulled the cards out of his mouth and turned around. "yet so proud of the man I'd become. She'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more -" he cleared his throat as Pepper straightened a folded square of silk in his buttonhole. "- crazy about me - tell me you never think about that night."**

**"What night?" asked Pepper.**

**"You know," said Tony.**

Tony could feel Bruce starting to silently chuckle against his back, getting him to smile. Everyone looked at Tony smiling like he was crazy. 

**Pepper looked up into his face for the first time. "Are you talking about - the night that we danced?" she asked. "And went up on the roof, and then you - went downstairs to buy me a drink and left me there by myself? Is that the night you're talking about?"**

**"Mm-hm," said Tony, deflating visibly but the calculating gleam in his eyes never leaving.**

**"Thought so," said Pepper, straightening his jacket.**

Wanda started chuckling, thinking that Tony would be upset at the rejection and relishing in it. Nobody realized the truth.

**"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" said Pepper.**

**"That will be all, Ms. Potts," said Tony at the same moment, and he left in what looked like rather a hurry.**

"Is that left over from your time as her boss before she started treating you like a toddler?" Bruce asked Tony, purposefully letting everyone else in the room hear. Tony smiled into his neck, knowing his game, and just nodded. Even the spies lips twitched. 

**"And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement," said Rhodey down in the conference room, and then as the reporters began to pipe up he added, "He will not be taking any questions. Thank you."**

**Rhodey stood aside, and Tony came up to the microphone. "Uh. . ." he trailed off, a bit 'out of balance'. ". . .been a while since I was in front of you, I figured I'll just stick with the cards this time."**

Bruce hugged Tony to him tighter, making it seem natural while the billionaire chuckled. 

**The press people all chuckled. Tony cleared his throat, and Pepper watched the live stream from upstairs.**

**"There's been speculation," Tony began. "that I was involved in the events on the freeway and on the rooftop -"**

**"I'm sorry Mr. Stark," broke in an all-too-familiar voice of Christine. "but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you -"**

**"I know that it's confusing," said Tony, making a face. "It is one thing for you to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I'm a superhero -"**

Bruce chuckled in Tony's ear, far too sensual for the occasion, and lightly made a grab for Tony's ribs the ever-continuing game. 

**Christine smirked. "I never said you were a superhero," she said.**

**"You didn't," Tony fake backtracked. "Well good, because that would be outlandish and, uh, fantastic -" he looked back down, and Christine arched her eyebrows skeptically. "I'm just not the hero type, clearly," continued Tony. "with this, uh, laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public. . ."**

**Rhodey put his mouth to Tony's ear. "Stick to the cards, man," he whispered. Tony nodded.**

"As if," Rhodey said with the air of someone who has learned better. 

**"Yeah, okay, yeah," said Tony, seeming for a moment to pull it together and holding up the cards to look at them again. "Truth is..." He looked up, and his face went completely blank.**

**"I am Iron Man."**

**Instantly the press conference room was in an uproar and every reporter sprang to his or her feet - all except, of course, for Christine Everhart. Tony almost smiled a shark's smile at her for a moment, but then the screen went dark.**

"Well, that was fun" Rhodey started, before stopping when the movie continued. 

**The screen lit up again, and it opened on Tony's lounge as he came in. "JARVIS!" he called.**

**"Welcome home, sir," said JARVIS, but something seemed to be wrong with him, and his voice distorted oddly on the sir.**

**Tony went instantly alert and walked forward a step or two, then halted. Behind the couch, in the shadows of the room, stood a tall figure wrapped in something dark. You could see Tony physically holding back from taking him down.**

**"I am Iron Man," said the familiar voice. "You think you're the only superhero in the world?"**

"That was your angle?" Natasha asked snidely, trying to get back at the director for his opinions during her time spying on Stark. 

**The shadowed form of the former director of SHIELD turned to the large window. "Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."**

**"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Tony, forcing an air of confusion instead of alertness.**

**The man came forward into the lamplight, which gleamed on a long black trench coat and a black eye patch. "I'm here, to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative," he said.**

"Are we done?" Pepper asked, not really thinking of anything else that could be started without adding another couple of hours to the movie.

"Yup," Tony said, getting off of Bruce's lap and stretching. "I don't have to tell you that if anything that was in that movie is found in SHIELD's database or online anywhere there will be hell to pay?" He asked calmly, not worried about threatening one of the most powerful people in the world. "I'll have Jarvis watching the security feed anyway," He finished stretching then grabbed Bruce's hand pulling him up.

They both pulled Thor up and together they left for the penthouse. After all, they had a lot to talk about. 

* * *

_So, that's the end of that... Comment or message me if you see anything obvious you'd like me to fix and if you want something specific from me send me pairing suggestions or prompts... See you guys soon! -Rose_


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